The opera, which was written in 1895-7 but not performed until 1904, is based on the novel “The Grandissimes” by George Washington Cable, and tells the story of an African prince sold into slavery who falls in love with the slave girl Palmoyra, the dance La Calinda being performed to celebrate their wedding in the second act. Delius had used this dance earlier for a movement of his Florida Suite of 1887, where it bears the title “Daybreak,” and with its Negro rhythms and melody it has become one of his most memorable short compositions. It is, however, somewhat less frenzied than the original popular dance that bears the same name, which was evidently banned in Louisiana on the grounds of obscenity!   
 
'La Calinda' is usually performed using the arrangement to be heard this evening  by one of Delius’s greatest champions and disciples, Eric Fenby.