(b Mainz, 24 Dec 1824; d nr Copenhagen, 26 Oct 1874). German composer. Trained as actor and violinist, and friend of artists, poets and writers, he devoted himself to music from the 1840s, finding inspiration in Liszt and the New German School at Weimar in 1852. His first mature works were the lieder opp. 1 and 2 and the song cycle Trauer und Trost op.3, followed by the comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad (1855-8); all show his literary skill, refreshing simplicity and musical independence from the Liszt circle. In Vienna (1859-65), he wrote his second opera Der Cid and enjoyed fruitful relationships with Brahms, Carl Tausig and above all Wagner, who summoned him to Munich in 1865 as his private répétiteur and teacher at the Royal School of Music. His third opera Gunlöd was never finished. He continued to write poetry and essays defending Wagner and Liszt and translated vocal works by Pergolesi, Berlioz, Liszt and others. Although he revered Wagner, he stood ethically and artistically apart, his work (especially Der Barbier) thus representing an original achievement.
Cornelius, Peter (1913-70), German photojournalist and colour photographer. In 1949, after war service and captivity, he resumed an interrupted career in his native Kiel, specializing in reportage, landscape, and sailing photography. From 1956 he became one of the first post-war German photographers to experiment systematically with colour film as a medium of both artistic expression and reportage. With six other photographers, including Walter Boje (1905-92), Erwin Fieger (b. 1928), and Heinz Hajek-Halke, Cornelius participated in the exhibition Magie der Farbe (Magic of Colour) at Photokina in 1960 (pub. 1961), which demonstrated the creative possibilities of colour as it was poised to conquer the mass market. He published Farbiges Paris in 1961, and numerous articles on colour photography.
Cornelius, Peter (Mainz, 1824-1874, Mainz), whose father was a cousin of the painter P. Cornelius, was a distinctive though minor poet and composer who made a hard-earned living as a musical copyist, translator, and teacher in (successively) Weimar, Vienna, and Munich, and whose close friends included R. Wagner, Hebbel, and Heyse. His best work is the witty comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad (premiered 1858), to his own libretto, based on an incident in the Arabian Nights, but outside Germany he is more widely known for the rapt ‘Die Könige’ for solo voice with chorale accompaniment, one of a set of 6 Weihnachtslieder (1856). In these too, as in most of his works, he wrote both words and music. His poetry ranges in tone from delicate, humorous self-irony to the now unfashionably lachrymose; his letters and diaries provide a frank, vivid insight into Wagner's milieu in a wider 19th c. framework. Gesammelte Werke, edited by his son C. M. Cornelius, were published 1904-5 (repr. 1974).
Cornelius, Peter (pā'tər kôrnā'lēʊs), 1824-74, German composer and poet; follower of Liszt and Wagner. He wrote music criticism, songs, and poetry but is best known for his operas Der Barbier von Bagdad (1858) and Der Cid (1865).
Carl August Peter Cornelius was the son of two actors, Carl Joseph Gerhard Cornelius and Friedereike Cornelius (née Schradtke). His father trained him as an actor, and as part of that training, he was also given music lessons. By the age of 15 he was a violinist in the theater orchestra in Mainz, and in 1842 he became an actor in the theater company in neighboring Wiesbaden. Meanwhile, he had started composing music when he was 12.
After his father died in 1843, the family decided he should study music full-time. He was sent to live with his uncle, the famous painter Peter von Cornelius (1783 - 1867), in Berlin from 1844 to 1852, where he began serious musical studies with Siegfried Dehn and became part of a literary and artistic circle. He was hired by Franz Liszt to translate his French-language articles. Liszt read Cornelius' early art songs and encouraged him, admitting him into his own artistic group in Weimar. Cornelius demonstrated talent for both poetry and music.
In 1855 Cornelius started work on his opera Der Barbier von Baghdad, written to his own libretto. The premiere of that opera, on December 15, 1858, at Weimar under Liszt's baton, became one of the great scandals in music in the nineteenth century. The opera and conductor became victims to a pre-arranged hostile demonstration, directed against Liszt, not Cornelius or the new opera, except insofar as the work was representative of the "New Germans," Liszt's progressive group of musicians and composers, which included Wagner. The hostile demonstration resulted in Liszt resigning from his positions in Weimar. The resignations were turned down, and Liszt remained in Weimar for three years to serve out his contracts, but he had no more contact with the opera house.
When Liszt left Weimar, Cornelius did, too, and settled in Vienna, where he worked on another opera, Le Cid. His existence there was marginal, so when he was hired by Wagner as a rehearsal coach in Munich, he felt he could not decline, even though he was wary of again becoming closely connected with one of the towering and most controversial artists of his day, fearing that his talent would be overwhelmed by his work for the great genius. And, indeed, Wagner angrily demanded Cornelius' resignation when the less well-established composer actually dared to take time off to see his own Le Cid finally get a premiere in Weimar while Wagner's Tristan und Isolde was in rehearsal. Cornelius held on to his post, got an additional job teaching at the Royal School of Music in Munich, and married Bertha Jung. The premiere of Le Cid, by the way, was successful, but soon Cornelius got caught up in preparations for the premiere of Wagner's Der Meistersinger, and with the planning and building of Wagner's Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. This kept him from completing what might have been a major work, a mythic opera called Gunlöd before he died in 1874.
Cornelius was well-regarded by his contemporaries, considered honest, honorable, sophisticated, and engaging in conversation and personal manner. His music is particularly admired in Germany, where The Barber of Baghdad remains a perennial favorite, and his substantial number of songs, duets, and choruses are highly regarded. His only orchestral and instrumental works are immature student writings, but the Overture to the Barber is frequently heard in concert halls. Despite the enduring success of Der Barbier, Cornelius' fears that he would be eclipsed by his associations with Liszt and Wagner proved well-founded. ~ Joseph Stevenson, Rovi
Cornelius's first mature works (including the opera Der Barbier von Bagdad) were composed during his brief stay in Weimar (1852–1858). His next place of residence was Vienna, where he stayed for five years. It was in Vienna that Cornelius began a friendship with Richard Wagner. It was at Wagner's behest that Cornelius moved to Munich in 1864, where he finally took a wife and fathered four children.[1]
Among many British musicians, his best known work is The Three Kings, an Epiphany anthem of which a version is included in the first volume of the popular Willcocks and Jacques compilation Carols for Choirs.
During his last few years in Berlin, Cornelius wrote music criticism for several major Berlin journals and entered into friendships with Joseph von Eichendorff, Paul Heyse and Hans von Bülow. Despite his friendships with Wagner and Franz Liszt, Cornelius had a rocky relationship with the so-called "New German School" of composition. He did not attend the premiere of Tristan und Isolde with von Bülow and Wagner, using the premiere of his own opera Der Cid as an excuse. His third and final operatic project, Gunlöd, based on the Norseeddas, was left incomplete at his death (from diabetes). He died in Mainz where his grave in the Hauptfriedhof survives.
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