Carl August Peter Cornelius (December 24, 1824 – October 26, 1874) was a German composer, music writer, poet, and translator.

Early life and education

He was born in Mainz to Carl Joseph Gerhard (1793–1843) and Friederike (1789–1867) Cornelius, who worked as actors in Mainz and Wiesbaden. He started playing the violin and writing music when he was young. He later studied music composition with Heinrich Esser in 1841. From 1844 to 1852, he lived with his uncle, who was a painter named Peter von Cornelius, in Berlin. During this time, he met important people like Alexander von Humboldt, the Brothers Grimm, Friedrich Rückert, and Felix Mendelssohn.

Career

Cornelius's early musical works included chamber and church music, as well as non-religious songs. Among these, the Stabat Mater for soloists, choir, and orchestra, composed in 1849, is especially notable. His first more developed works, including the opera Der Barbier von Bagdad, were created during his short time in Weimar from 1852 to 1858. He later moved to Vienna, where he lived for five years. In Vienna, Cornelius formed a friendship with Richard Wagner. At Wagner's request, Cornelius relocated to Munich in 1864, where he married and had four children.

During his final years in Berlin, Cornelius wrote music reviews for several important Berlin newspapers. He also became friends with Joseph von Eichendorff, Paul Heyse, and Hans von Bülow. Although he had long connections with Wagner and Franz Liszt (who sometimes asked Cornelius for advice on arranging music for orchestras), his relationship with the "New German School" of composers was not always smooth. For example, he did not attend the premiere of Tristan und Isolde, using the premiere of his own opera Der Cid as a reason.

Cornelius's third and final opera, Gunlöd, based on the Norse eddas, was left unfinished when he died of diabetes in Mainz. He was buried in the city's Hauptfriedhof, and his grave is still visible there.

Legacy

The Mainz Conservatory was renamed the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in 1936. Since 1951, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate has given an award named after Peter Cornelius to recognize musical achievements.

A statue made by artist Hugo Lederer in 1930 is displayed in Park Drususwall in Mainz.

Many streets and squares in Mainz and other German cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Augsburg, and Weimar, as well as in Vienna, Salzburg, and Waalwijk, Netherlands, are named after Peter Cornelius.

The Peter Cornelius Archive is a large collection kept by the Mainz City Library. It includes personal items, documents, and musical works by Peter Cornelius, such as about 50 original music manuscripts, 58 notebooks with diaries, sketches, and poems, memorabilia like death masks, and over 2,600 letters. The archive has been expanded with items donated by Cornelius’s family and is available for public research.

In Britain, Peter Cornelius’s most famous work is "The Three Kings" ("Die Könige"), a song for solo voice and piano from his 1856 song cycle, Weihnachtslieder. The song’s melody uses a tune from a hymn called "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern," written by Philipp Nicolai in 1597. An English version of the song, translated by H.N. Bate in 1928, was arranged for solo voice and choir by Ivor Atkins in 1957. This version was included in the first book of the popular Carols for Choirs collection by David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques in 1961.

Selected works

• Stabat mater for soloists, chorus, and orchestra (1849)
• Brautlieder (1856)

• Weihnachtslieder, Op. 8 (1856)
• Der Barbier von Bagdad, opera buffa (1858)
• Der Cid, opera (1865)
• Requiem ("Seele, vergiß sie nicht"), based on a poem by Hebbel (1872)
• String quartets
• Gunlöd, unfinished opera in three acts based on the story Hávamál from the Edda; completed by Karl Hoffbauer for its 1879 publication; premiered at the Hoftheater Weimar on May 6, 1891, with new orchestrations by Eduard Lassen. A different completed version by Max Hass (vocal score) and Waldemar von Baußnern (orchestrations) premiered on December 15, 1906, at the Cologne Opera.
• Mass in D minor, CWV 91 for two soloists, chorus, and organ, with strings

Cited sources

Chisholm, Hugh, edited (1911). "Cornelius, Carl August Peter." Encyclopædia Britannica. Volume 7 (11th edition). Cambridge University Press. Pages 167 to 168.