understanding ? The pedantic Berlin of 1852 had
no answer to this question. Cornelius felt himself
irresistibly attracted to the seat of the modern muses.
To Weimar he went on a visit of a few days, as he
thought ; but the days became weeks, the weeks
months, the months years. Liszt received him well,
but severely criticised his compositions. Under the
magic personal influence of the great Abbe, under
the power of the works of Wagner and Berlioz,
which were well produced on the small grand ducal
stage of Weimar, the budding genius of Cornelius
expanded with marvellous rapidity. It was the
turning-point of his life ; his tongue was loosed ; he
was himself at last — the poet, the musician — by the
grace of God. All this time his outward circum-
stances were still precarious enough ; but while he
struggled for a modest living by literary labours for
the press, by translations for Liszt and Berlioz, and
by giving a few private lessons, the plans for the
text of a comic opera, The Barber of Bagdad, the
materials for which he found in the Arabian Nights,
were completed, and on New Year's Eve of 1857 he
gave the last touches to the score of the opera.
Liszt was delighted with it, and forthwith began to
superintend the rehearsals. On the 15th of Decem-
ber 1858 The Barber saw for the first time the
lights of the stage, among the hisses of an organised
noisy clique. That their disgraceful demonstration
was directed against Liszt was quite apparent : there
was at that time in Weimar a cowardly opposition
to the new school, which had not the courage to
attack the powerful Abbe himself, and thought it
could strike him a blow in this indirect way. Liszt
threw away his baton, and resigned his position as
conductor and director of the opera. Two days
afterwards Cornelius received an ovation in the
theatre on the occasion of a prologue, spoken on
Beethoven's birthday, which he had written ; a
torchlight procession took place in honour of Liszt,
but it was too late, for the Abbe ceased to reside
permanently in Weimar, and Cornelius went to
Vienna, where he spent five years of hard work,
disappointment, and even want. Here he composed
many of his songs and choruses, and a second opera.
The Cid, which, much inferior to Tie Barber, sur-
vived only two performances several years later in
Weimar. The only rays of hope and happiness in
Vienna were the short visits to the city of Richard
Wagner, of whom Cornelius had become an intimate
friend. At last in 1864, at a time when Cornelius
was reduced to absolute poverty, the friend in need
came to the rescue. Wagner had prevailed upon his
royal patron, Louis ii. of Bavaria, to offer Cornelius
an appointment as professor of harmony at the
Royal School of Music in Munich. Incredible as it
may seem, the appointment was at first refused, be-
cause Cornelius feared, as he said, to be absorbed like
a drop of dew in the radiant sun Richard Wagner,
and it required all the efforts of the latter to induce
him to accept the king's liberal offer. In the spring
of 1865 we find him hajipy and comfortable in
Munich, absorbed, not by Wagner's light, but the
love of a fair lady of Mayence, whom he led to the
altar in 1867. During all this time, and for several
years longer, his activity was prodigious ; his pro-
fessional duties occupied most of his time, yet he
managed to begin a new opera, Gunloed, composed
a large number of vocal works, and wrote aesthetic
essays on works of Wagner, Berlioz, etc. His
writings were in great request by the German editors,
and will, it is to be hoped, some day be collected,
for they will form a most interesting volume.
In October 1874 Cornelius, with his young family,
in the best of humours, full of plans and energy,
though slightly indisposed, went to Mayence, his
native town, for a change of air. Here, on the 26th
of October, he breathed his last.
In him the artist and the man were irreproachable
and equally lovable. His youthful freshness and
warm enthusiasm, enhanced by a touch of delightful
hvmiour, enabled him to forget the stern troubles
of daily life, and to pursue with undeviating energy
the ideal aims of his noble nature in their undimmed
purity.
Emil Clauss.
Munich, Sepleiukr iSSS.
MUSICAL EDUCATION.
The substance of a Paper read before the Edinhtrgh Society of Ahisicia7is, April 2st, iS
MUSICAL education assumes several forms.
The oldest and yet the commonest is pro-
bably that of master and pupil, that close and
sympathetic relationship by which the secrets of
the divine art are communicated from mind to mind,
and in which example and precept, theory and
practice, are or should be most closely blended.
Of a hoary antiquity also is the School of Music,
Page:Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu/166
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
134
THE SCOTTISH ART REVIEW
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu/page166-1024px-Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu.jpg)