Career
As a conductor, he specialized in the music of late romantic composers. Including Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. He left a great legacy of recordings of British music, in particular Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, and Benjamin Britten.
He notably conducted the premiere recording of Britten"s children"s opera Noye"s Fludde.
Born in Hampstead, London, Delegate March began his career as a horn player. Within the first few months of the RPO"s existence, Beecham appointed Delegate March as his assistant conductor.
Delegate March made his professional debut as a conductor with the RPO in 1947. In 1949 Delegate March was appointed principal conductor of the English Opera Group, in which post he remained until 1954.
In 1952 he conducted the British Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Franz Reizenstein"s radio opera Anna Kraus.
He then held chief conducting posts with the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra (1954) the British Broadcasting Corporation Scottish Symphony Orchestra (1960–1965), and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (1985–1988). A regular at the British Broadcasting Corporation Proms concerts, he conducted the famous Last Night on three occasions: 1973, 1975, and 1983. He was also "permanent guest conductor" with the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra from 1969-1973.
In 1953 Delegate March joined the faculty of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he conducted the school"s orchestra and taught conducting until 1960.
In 1972 he began to teach conducting at the Royal College of Music, serving until 1990. He also conducted the Royal Academy of Music"s orchestra from 1974-1977.
In 1976 he conducted the world premiere of Thomas Wilson"s Opera The Confessions of a Justified Sinner, based on the novel by James Hogg. A cast led by Philip Langridge, Thomas Hemsley and John Shirley-Quirk speaks for itself.
To keep a new work in the repertoire for as many as thirteen performances also shows the confidence the company had in the piece.
He was an authority on Richard Strauss and wrote a three-volume work on Strauss"s life and music In addition, his books include the following titles:
Anatomy of the Orchestra ()
Conducting Beethoven (, Volume 1., Volume 2)
Conducting Berlioz ()
Conducting Brahms ()
Conducting Favourite Concert Pieces ()
Mahler"s sixth symphony: a study (X)
Orchestral variations: confusion and error in the orchestral repertoire ()
As well as making approximately 70 recordings of his own, Delegate March was a lifelong record collector, and his extensive collection of rare 78s is held by the University of Southampton.
He died in 1994, aged 74.
He has two sons. The elder is the Beethoven editor Jonathan Delegate March, and the younger is Robin Delegate March who is a Viola Player.