Gustav Cornelius Gurlitt (10 February 1820 – 17 June 1901) was a German composer. He was a classmate of

Carl Reinecke Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke (23 June 182410 March 1910) was a German composer, conductor, and pianist in the mid-Romantic era. Biography Reinecke was born in what is today the Hamburg district of Altona; technically he was born a Dane, as ...

, whose father was head of the

Leipzig Conservatory The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...

. Gurlitt studied with Reinecke's father for six years. His first public appearance at the age of seventeen was well received, and he decided to go to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to continue his studies. There he studied organ, piano, and composition under Curlander and Weyse. While in Copenhagen he became acquainted with the Danish composer

Niels Gade Niels Wilhelm Gade (22 February 1817 – 21 December 1890) was a Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher. Together with Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, he was the leading Danish musician of his day. Biography Gade was born ...

, and they remained friends until Gade's death. In 1842, Gurlitt moved to

Hørsholm Hørsholm () is an urban area on the Øresund coast approximately north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers most of Hørsholm Municipality and straddles the borders neighbouring Fredensborg Municipality and Rudersdal Municipality. Hørsholm prope ...

, where he resided as organist and music teacher for four years. He then moved to Leipzig, Germany, where Gade was musical director for the

Gewandhaus Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The fi ...

concerts. Gurlitt next traveled to Rome, where his brother,

Louis Gurlitt Heinrich Louis Theodor Gurlitt (8 March 1812 – 19 November 1897), also called Louis Gurlitt, was a Danish-German painter of landscapes. His brother was the composer Cornelius Gurlitt, and his son was the architect and art historian also cal ...

, a well-known painter, was studying. Cornelius Gurlitt's abilities as a musician were quickly recognized in Rome, and the papal

Accademia di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

nominated him an honorary member, graduating as a Professor of Music in 1855. While in Rome he also studied painting with excellent results. On his return to Altona, the Duke of Augustenburg engaged him as teacher for three of his daughters. When the Schleswig-Holstein war broke out in 1848, Gurlitt became a

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the tit ...

master. His output was prodigious in quantity and breadth, ranging from songs and teaching pieces to operas,

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

s, and symphonies. He was born in Altona,

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

and died in Altona.

References

External links

* * *
Biography in ''Deutsche Biographie''
(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurlitt, Cornelius 1820 births 1901 deaths German Romantic composers Honorary members of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia German male classical composers 19th-century German musicians Cornelius 20th-century German male musicians 19th-century German male musicians