Peter Cornelius

Peter Cornelius , 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).

Cornelius, Peter (b Mainz, 1824; d Mainz, 1874). Ger. composer and writer. His delightful comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad was produced by Liszt at Weimar, 1858, but controversy caused by Cornelius's advocacy of the Liszt–Wagner ‘New Music’ led to its withdrawal and to Liszt's resignation as court cond. Trans. some Berlioz libs., incl. Benvenuto Cellini, into Ger. Lived in Vienna 1859–65, meeting Wagner in 1861. Prof. of harmony, Munich Cons., 1867, and became one of Wagner's inner circle. Wrote 2 other operas, Der Cid (Weimar 1865) and Gunlöd (unfinished, completed by Bausznern, prod. 1891). Wrote many beautiful vocal works incl. Stabat Mater (1849) and Requiem (1863–72), and songs incl. the Christmas hymn known in Eng. as ‘Three Kings from Persian Lands afar’ but orig. Die Könige from the Weihnachtslieder (1856).

Cornelius, Peter (1783–1867). German painter, draughtsman, and teacher. He was born in Düsseldorf, and trained there at the Academy, where his father was a teacher. From the beginning of his career his primary ambition was to produce monumental wall paintings. He moved to Rome in 1811 and the following year became a member of the Nazarenes. In 1819 he was called to Munich by Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (later Ludwig I), for whom he worked extensively, notably on a series of frescos in the Ludwigskirche (1836–9), including a Last Judgement that is larger than Michelangelo's in the Sistine Chapel. In 1841 he moved to Berlin to work for Frederick William IV of Prussia. His major commission there was for a series of frescos in a mausoleum for the royal family. The project was officially cancelled after the revolution in 1848, but Cornelius continued to work on his drawings for it for the rest of his life. In 1853 to 1861 he lived in Rome again. His style is rather self-conscious in its desire to revive the heroic pictorial language of Raphael and Michelangelo, and combine it with the didactic philosophy of German Romanticism, but his work has an impressive epic sweep. Cornelius was director of the academies at Düsseldorf (1821–5) and Munich (from 1825) and he helped to make these institutions the most important centres in Germany for the teaching of history painting. His work was a major influence in promoting a revival of fresco decoration in Germany and his reputation in the field was such that in 1841 he visited London to give advice on the projected mural decorations for the Houses of Parliament.