Chapter I
. Cornelius has already been remembered in connection with the later romantic opera as having successfully applied Wagner's principles to the lighter dramatic genre ('Barber of Bagdad'), and has received further mention as a song-writer (see Vol. V, pp. 302ff). Here we may pay him a brief tribute as the composer of beautiful choruses, in which he shows the influence of the older masters of choral art. Thus _Der Tod das ist die kühle Nacht_ recalls the gorgeous color of the Renaissance Venetians. From 1852 on, when Cornelius joined the Liszt circle, he was one of the chief standard-bearers of the New German school.
Felix Draeseke's (born 1835) association with this group must be qualified, for, though originally drawn to Weimar by his enthusiasm for Liszt, he later deserted the ranks of the New Germans and devoted himself to the cultivation of the classic forms. This reversion seems to have been in the nature of a reform, for his early essays in the freer modernistic manner are somewhat bizarre. In his harmonic and orchestral style, however, he continued to adhere to the 'New German' principles. In fact, he swung like a pendulum between the two opposite poles of modern German music. His compositions include three symphonies--G major, F major, and C minor ('Tragica')--an orchestral serenade (op. 49); two symphonic preludes, a _Jubel-Overtüre_; three string quartets and a number of other chamber works, a sonata and other pieces for piano, as well as a number of large choral works (a Mass, op. 60; a Requiem, op. 30; 'Song of Advent,' op. 60; a mystery, _Christus_, consisting of a prelude and three oratorios; cantatas, etc.); also several operas. Draeseke was a friend of Bülow. He taught at the Lausanne conservatory in 1868-69 and later at the Dresden conservatory. He is a royal Saxon professor, privy councillor, etc.
Another grand-ducal musical director at Weimar was August Klughardt (1847-1902), who wrote five symphonies, a number of overtures, orchestral suites, etc. Like Draeseke, he was influenced both by the neo-classics and the 'New Germans.' Heinrich Porges (1837-1900), also distinguished as a writer and conductor; Leopold Damrosch (1832-85), who carried the Wagner-Liszt banner to America; Hans von Bronsart (b. 1828) and his wife Ingeborg, both pupils of Liszt and distinguished in piano music (the former also for an orchestral fantasy and a choral symphony, _In den Alpen_), should be mentioned as belonging to the same group.
There are other names of real importance in absolute music; there are Pfitzner, Thuille, Schillings, Klose and Kaskel, there are Bungert, Weingartner, Goldmark and less significant names, but since these have exercised their talents chiefly in the dramatic field we shall defer our treatment of them to the following chapter. And, finally, there is a host of followers of these, too numerous to be treated as individuals and if individually distinguished too recent to have judgment pronounced upon them. The most recent currents, too, shall have attention in the next chapter.
E. N.
FOOTNOTES:
[31] New ed. of Naumann's _Musikgeschichte_, 1913.
[32] Reger is a native of Brand, in Bavaria, the son of a school teacher, from whom he received his earliest musical training. In addition to this he received instruction from the organist Lindner in Weiden (where his father settled during Reger's infancy). After his studies under Dr. Riemann (1890-95), he taught at the Wiesbaden conservatory, and (after some years' residence in his home town and in Munich) at the Royal Academy of Munich. In 1907 he became musical director at the Leipzig University and teacher of composition in the conservatory there, and in 1908 was made 'Royal Professor.' In 1908 he resigned his university post and in the same year was given the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy by the University of Jena. Later, until 1915, he conducted the Meiningen orchestra.
[33] Walter Niemann: _Die Musik seit Richard Wagner_, 1914.
[34] These include _Der geigende Eremit_; _Spiel der Wellen_; _Die Toteninsel_ and _Bacchanal_.
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