 Although the work was based on the same Nietzsche work as Richard Strauss's "Also sprach Zarathustra", Delius distanced himself from the Strauss work, which he considered a complete failure.Nor was Strauss an admirer of Delius, as he was of Elgar; he told Delius that he did not wish to conduct "Paris"—"the symphonic development seems to me to be too scant, and it seems moreover to be an imitation of Charpentier".In the early years of the 20th century, Delius composed some of his most popular works, including "Brigg Fair" (1907), "In a Summer Garden" (1908, revised 1911), "Summer Night on the River" (1911), and "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring" (1912), of which McVeagh comments, "These exquisite idylls, for all their composer's German descent and French domicile, spell 'England' for most listeners."