"Christbaum" from "Weihnachtslieder" (Op. 8 No. 1) for Oboe & Piano

Описание: Carl August Peter Cornelius (1824 – 1874) was a German composer, writer about music, poet and translator. He was born in Mainz to Carl Joseph Gerhard (1793–1843) and Friederike (1789–1867) Cornelius, actors in Mainz and Wiesbaden. From an early age he played the violin and composed, eventually studying with Tekla Griebel-Wandall and composition with Heinrich Esser in 1841. He lived with his painter uncle Peter von Cornelius in Berlin from 1844 to 1852, and during this time he met prominent figures such as Alexander von Humboldt, the Brothers Grimm, Friedrich Rückert and Felix Mendelssohn.

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 lived for five years. It was in Vienna that Cornelius began a friendship with Richard Wagner. At the latter's behest, Cornelius moved to Munich in 1864, where he took a wife and fathered four children.

In Britain to this day, Cornelius's best-known work is "The Three Kings", a song for voice and piano in which the soloist sings "Three Kings from Persian lands afar ...", while from the piano is heard the chorale tune of Philipp Nicolai, Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern ("How brightly shines the morning star") underneath. An arrangement by Ivor Atkins of "The Three Kings" for solo voice and choir is included in the first volume of the popular David Willcocks and Reginald 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 long-standing association with Wagner and Franz Liszt (the latter on occasion sought Cornelius's advice when it came to matters of orchestration), Cornelius's relations with the so-called "New German School" of composition were sometimes rocky. For instance, he did not attend the premiere of Tristan und Isolde, using the premiere of his own opera Der Cid as an excuse.

Weihnachtslieder (Christmas Songs), Op. 8, is a song cycle of six lieder related to Christmas by Peter Cornelius, who set his own poems for voice and piano in 1856. The full title is: Weihnachtslieder : ein Cyklus für eine Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung : Op. 8 / Text und Musik von Peter Cornelius. Cornelius dedicated the songs to his sister, Elisabeth Schily. The song "Die Könige" about the Biblical Magi has been translated and published separately. English versions come under the title "The Three Kings". It incorporates in the piano accompaniment Philipp Nicolai's hymn "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern".

Cornelius composed the Weihnachtslieder on a recommendation by Franz Liszt who also gave him ideas such as quoting the melodies of related older Christmas carols in the piano accompaniment. Cornelius, who was also a gifted writer and had first pursued a career as an actor, wrote the poems for the song cycle on six topics. He followed Schumann in grouping his songs around a theme. Cornelius adhered to a Protestant theology of a new Pietism, initiated by August Neander and termed Pektoraltheologie (theology of the heart). Apparently he completed the text for a cycle before he composed the music.

Cornelius composed the music for voice and piano in 1856. He revised them in 1859, but was not successful finding a publisher. After the premiere on 29 January 1871, a review in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik noted a rich creative mind whose work reached the depth of the human soul ("Ein reicher, schöpferisch begabter Geist tritt uns darin entgegen, ein Künstler, dessen Werk unmittelbar begeisternd in das Tiefste der Menschenseele hineingreift.").

The song "Die Könige" (No. 3, "The Kings") about the Biblical Magi has become popular and has been translated and published separately, as "Three kings have come from the eastern land" and "Three Kings from Persian lands afar", among others. Some English versions are titled "The Three Kings". It was often recorded in collections of Christmas carols. The music was also arranged for choir.

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_C...)

Although originally written for Accompanied low voice, I created this arrangement of the "Christbaum" (The Christmas Tree) from "Weihnachtslieder" (Christmas Songs Op. 8 No. 1) for Oboe & Piano.