PETER CORNELIUS.
II.
IF I have been fortunate enough to create an interest in the composer whose works were noticed in the September number of this Review, I venture to hope that those who have made them- selves acquainted with some of his scores will welcome the following short sketch of Peter Cornelius life, for the materials of which I am indebted to his widow, Madame Cornelius of Munich. So prominent is the idiosyncrasy of Cornelius' music, that one's curiosity is involuntarily aroused concerning the man who wrote it. Peter Cornelius was born in Mayence on Christ- mas Eve of the year 1824. His father, the son of an actor, was himself a member of the Mayence city theatre, which at that time was one of the best in Germany. A highly cultured gentleman, occupying a respectable social position, as actors often do in Germany, and especially so in the smaller towns, he gave his son a careful though somewhat unsystematic education, developing his early liking for foreign languages — Englisli and French — and particularly for the stage. On the boards the boy played the parts of children with so much grace and courage that he became the enfant-gaU of the public, and tasted very early the intoxicating rapture of public favour and applause. In the meantime music was not neglected; he practised on the violin almost before he could stretcli his fingers into the first position, and composed little songs before he was able to spell. While yet a boy he went to London as last second fiddler with the Mayence Orchestra, which fulfilled an engagement in the London German Opera in the season of 1840. Staudigl, Tichatschek, Madame Stoeckl-Heinefetter, and other great names of European fame figured on the opera bills of that brilliant season, and it may be imagined how deep was the impression received by the youth in the English capital. On his return to Germany severe disappointments were in store for him. He resumed his career as an actor ; but the spoiled child had become a man, and very different were now the claims exacted from his talents by the public. His debuts on the ducal stage of Wiesbaden were unsuccessful, and at his third appearance in the part of John Cook in Kean and of Peril! in Donna Diana, the marks of disapproval which the audience manifested were so unmistak- able that he made up his mind never to appear on the boards again.' The struggle by which he arrived at this conclusion must have been painful. indeed so painful that he fell seriously ill. On recovering from the attack of a malignant fever he decided to make known his resolution to his father, but was prevented by the latter's death — an occur- rence which left the family altogether without means. Peter was now twenty, and, though highly gifted, was practically without a profession, having left the one for which he was really brought up. The course of Jiis education had been unsystematic, irregular, broken, and in a country like Germany, where the career of a young man is clearly defined and regulated in advance by progressive schools and school examinations, this was a very serious obstacle to success in life; but what would probably have been fatal to an ordinary man, was in Cornelius' case the making of him. While supporting himself and assisting his family with the meagre income derived from music-lessons, he managed with industrious energy at the same time to fill up the gaps which he found existing in his knowledge, and, unfettered by the pedantry of school, he gave his mind the direction which his genius dictated. At this stage his celebrated uncle and namesake Peter Cornelius, the great German artist, and founder of a school of painting, provided the means for his further musical education under Deha in Berlin, then one of the most famous teachers in Germany, from whose school issued pupils such as KuUack, Bargiel, and Kiel. The young musicians of our day have little idea of the time and labour which the preceding generation bestowed upon the study of counterpoint. Cornelius' poetic nature often revolted against this discipline, to which five hours a day were devoted, but he had to acknowledge its beneficial influence upon his future artistic development. During all this time he made a modest living by giving private lessons, and by writing as a critic for some Berlin newspapers. The compositions and poetical productions of the year spent in Berlin are to a great extent lost, and those which were preserved do not rise above a respectable commonplace. But at that time there appeared on the horizon a phenomenal star, whose rays lighted up the prevailing darkness of musical mediocrity, and awakened the latent genius of Cornelius.
Richard Wagner ! Who was he — of whom the musicians praised the poetical, the poets the musical talent, whom the critics condemned absolutely, while the masses instinctively admired him without
