Jan Cornelius (singer-songwriter)

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Jan Cornelius, 2017 in Leer

Jan Cornelius (born November 1953 in Hage near Norden ) is an East Frisian songwriter who has lived in Jemgum since 1959 . In 2016 he moved to Leer .

overview

Jan Cornelius began his career as a singer-songwriter in 1977. With his brother, Jürn Cornelius , he performed as a Low German folk duo under the name "Jan & Jürn" and recorded four LPs. From 1984 he published as a soloist. Despite his success, Jan Cornelius never gave up his teaching profession until he retired.

Live and act

Jan Cornelius was born in November 1953 in Hage near Norden. Both father and mother were village school teachers in the Hagermarsch. In 1959 the family moved to Jemgum , where a post of rector had become vacant and the apartment provided for teachers also had coal central heating. For the sons Jan and Jürn, the move brought their first acquaintance with the Low German language and as a result Low German became the colloquial language in the Cornelius house. He learned to play the recorder and piano, but when he was twelve he wanted an electric guitar. The father bought him a classic and insisted on lessons, which Jan gave up after six weeks. At the age of 14 he joined the CJVM and was also active in the church trombone choir. In 1967 the first band "The Crew" was founded. Members were Peter Heikens, Udo Pflüger and Dieter Scharmacher. His musical commitment and the resulting lack of time for other things contributed to a belated acquisition of the Abitur at the Ubbo-Emmius-Gymnasium in Leer and to the beginning of studies at the age of 22. From 1975 he then studied German and music in Oldenburg with the aim of teaching. Together with Adalbert Kirchhoff, a first-year advisor there, he founded “Poly Skiffle und Rock GmbH” with Gunnar Olsen and Ludger Bojert. Cornelius, who played the banjo, was able to finance his studies from the fees. The switch to dance music and the increasingly complex technology, as well as his preference for more gentle pieces finally led to the band saying goodbye.

The discovery of the Low German language as a stylistic device in Thomas Mann's novel “ Buddenbrooks ”, which he dealt intensively with during his German studies, and an appearance by Hannes Wader made Cornelius more aware of the Low German language. Jan and his brother Jürn, who joined the skiffle band in the final phase, discovered the “Strackholt folk alternative” while searching for old songs. The text "Lü, comes bianner, dat word nödig Tied, för de Free to strieden, dat is bold sowiet, en Pulverfatt word van de madness stimulated, wi fiegen in't Lücht, if neet bold wat gebört" (people, come together , it is necessary time to fight for freedom, the time will soon come, a powder keg of madness rules, we will blow up if something does not happen soon) shows Jan's sympathy with the 68 student movement and his activities in the eco- and the peace movement .

In 1977, in the auditorium of the Plytenberg School in Leer , the first public performance of the Low German program, which emerged from the collaboration of the brothers and comprised a repertoire of playable and singable traditional Low German songs. Through contact with the East Frisian bard Karl Dall , a record contract came about for the first album "Jan und Jürn - Lieder auf Platt" with exclusively Low German songs.

In 1984 after the last joint production "Stünnen glieden" the brothers separated. Jan finished his studies, followed by legal clerkship and teaching. Jürn developed musically in the direction of rock and jazz , became an actor at the Wilhelmshavener Landesbühne and produces music for children and young people. Jan Cornelius published the volume of poetry "Achter mien Ogen" . Low German songs were recorded with the brothers Ralf and Mathias Diesel, but the great success did not materialize even after ten joint appearances in 1986, and it was not possible to build on the achievements of his time with his brother. Accompanied by his partner, Cornelius traveled through the Mediterranean on a sailing ship for two years. Back at the Osterstegschule in Leer, Cornelius was confronted with inquiries about solo performances. He met Klaus Hagemann, an acquaintance from his student days who had worked for many years as a guitarist with the " Emsland Hillbillies ". The idea of ​​the “home sleeper concert” was born. Concerts were only given on home soil or within a radius that allowed them to return home that same night. Gerd Brandt from Wilhelmshaven worked as a corrective and producer in the creative phases.

In 1989 the first CD with the title “Neje Mörgen” was published, which represented a processing of the drafts and thoughts that Jan had written down in the form of a diary during the Mediterranean voyage. At the beginning of the 1990s, a project followed that was related to his teaching profession and his commitment to preserving the Low German language: He made it his goal to pass this language on to schoolchildren and to free people from the idea of it prevents the children from learning High German, which rather comes about solely through a wrong translation of the Low German grammar. However, Cornelius registered a lack of response from his students to traditional Low German children's songs, so that a reorientation to modern arrangements took place, designed together with the choir students. These included, for example, the “chewing gum mile” or the song by “Robby Roboter”. A song booklet was designed to accompany the CD published in 1996, which was intended to give other schools and kindergartens the opportunity to pass on the Low German language to the children in a playful way. In 1997 the concept album "Windgesang" was released, a Low German song collection on the subject of windmills, implemented with the folk group Laway. In 1998 the folk group around Gerd Brandt supported Cornelius again with the creation of the CD "Töverland" (Magic Land). In contrast to “Windgesang”, this did not have any settings by Low German authors as its content, but only its own texts and melodies.

Private

Since 1993 Cornelius has been married to a woman who also taught at the Ostersteg School. The two lived in a now 347-year-old mill on the dike, which his parents had bought 20 years earlier and saved from deterioration. After they retired together, they moved to Leer.

In his longstanding musical creative process, Cornelius identified two highlights: his appearance with a group of children at a party in the garden of Bellevue Palace and the acquaintance with the then Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker as well as the interviews with the British news channel BBC regarding a language course series in which he played the part a representative of Low German took.

With his settings, which appeared on the CD "En Vögelfeer" in 1992, he expressed his admiration for the poet Greta Schoon, who died in 1991 . After she became seriously ill in 1990, he spent a lot of time with her and had conversations with her. In 1993 he received the Bad Bevensen Prize for special interpretations in the field of Low German song, in 1996 the Keerlke Prize for his services to the new Low German nursery rhyme and finally the Heinrich Schmidt Barrien Prize in 2001 for his efforts to obtain the Low German language.

Understanding of music

The themes of the songwriter are, for example, the song of the wind, the passage of time and life, the ebb and flow of the tides and love, the magic of the Töverland and the calming landscape of the north, especially the East Frisian landscape and its changes. He philosophizes about the longing for security, about everyday troubles and the dreams of a better world.

According to him, his compositions are not created on the sheet of music. "They arise in my head, sometimes I find the right text for the melody that I've carried inside me for a long time, sometimes I find the tones for a text that occurred to me" . On the occasion of his laudation for Jan Cornelius when he was awarded the Bad Bevensen Prize in 1993, Johann P. Tammen said: “The dance of death is on the scene, I hear more and more - and who likes to go to funerals ... ? But [...] where art wants to go, namely into the light, it has always been gloomy. Which never particularly irritated the real artists. Constancy and quality, they always create a track [...] ” “ His songs tell of love, life, the landscape, they describe yesterday, today and do not give up hope for a better tomorrow. Jan Cornelius is not afraid to look into his soul, to repeatedly express his connection to the Low German language and his concern for nature. Influenced by his East Frisian home, he naturally sings about clouds, wind and water in his songs. Jan Cornelius does not do this in a clichéd manner, but always with a critical distance, with an eye for people's worries, their fears and needs in a world that is becoming more and more hectic and confusing ” .

Discography

  • 1978 - songs on Platt
  • 1979 - To Huus
  • 1980 - Siet to Siet (in the duo Jan & Jürn)
  • 1980 - All tosamen in Strackholt
  • 1981 - Stunnen divided
  • 1984 - music in the moor
  • 1989 - Alltiet weer in Strackholt
  • 1989 - ... un dat was Sömmer
  • 1990 - Neje Mörgen
  • 1991 - Hopp-Popp-Tirreltopp (together with Margret Specht)
  • 1992 - EenVögelfeer
  • 1993 - Winter Christmas Kinnertied (together with children's choirs)
  • 1994 - Tiedenloop
  • 1996 - Candidate
  • 1997 - Windgesang (with Laway)
  • 1998 - Töverland
  • 2001 - Waterdanz (accompanied by Klaus Hagemann)
  • 2003 - Wulkenkieker (with Klaus Hagemann and guest musicians)
  • 2005 - Spegelbiller (with Klaus Hagemann and Christa Ehrig)
  • 2007 - Dreeklang
  • 2013 - Spöölwark (with Klaus Hagemann and Christa Ehrig)
  • 2015 - Sünn un Swaarweer ( Jan C. sings Wilhelmine Siefkes , accompanied by Klaus Hagemann and Christa Ehrig)
  • 2019 - Songbook “Music Stories” ISBN 978-3-937949-25-3 (Ed .: Gerold Meinen)
  • 2020 - Vör Anker (with Klaus Hagemann and Christa Ehrig)

Awards

literature

  • Silke Arends-Vernholz: Cloud gazer out of passion. In: Ostfriesland Magazin. 4/2004, pp. 124-126.
  • AWI: The minstrel in the mill. Songwriter and teacher - Jan Cornelius from Jemgum is no longer an insider tip. In: Ostfriesische Ferienzeitung. 2004, p. 8.
  • Grieta Bottin, Traute Dittmann: Awarding of the Bad Bevensen Prize to Jan Cornelius. In: 46th Bevensen Conference 17. – 19. September 1993. Wagener, Mannheim 1993, pp. 106-122.
  • Torben Brinkema: Low German is not lost. Today: Jan Cornelius. Songwriter and teacher. In: inquired - the interview. rheiderlandEcho. 2001, pp. 8-10.
  • Heinz J. Giermanns: “Buddenbrooks” as a pioneer of the songwriting career. In: Karl Dall helped the Cornelius brothers with the first record. Rheiderland-Zeitung, No. 192, 148th volume, 2007.
  • Heinz J. Giermanns: Years of apprenticeship at the “Society with Shitty Heels”. In: Jan Cornelius: from recorder student to beat rebel. Rheiderland-Zeitung No. 200, 148th volume, 2007.
  • Heinz J. Giermanns: In the “Bundesliga” of folk music. In: Jan and Jürn and the time after. Rheiderland-Zeitung No. 203, 148th volume, 2007.
  • Menna Hensmann: The musician from the region. Jan Cornelius from Jemgum. In: Very personal. OMA 12/98. 1998, pp. 102-105.
  • Rudolf Herbig: Economy - Work - Strike - Lockout on the Lower Weser. From the economic, social and trade union history between 1827 and 1953. RMG Werbe- und Verlagsgesellschaft Wolframs-Eschenbach, 1979.
  • Harald Schirrmann: You're getting old now, Cornelius. In: Sunday Report. No. 3, Volume 16, 2001, p. 7.
  • Heinz-Wilhelm Schnieders: I want people to understand me. In: How good that you exist. Educational in the headwind. De Utrooper, Leer 1994, pp. 105-113.
  • WJ: High quality Low German chansons. In: Ostfriesische Nachrichten. December 10, 2007.
  • Arne Peters: Language also conveys home. (As of November 15, 2009).
  • East Frisian State Museum Emden: Jan Cornelius - Dreeklang.
  • Gerd Spiekermann: You still listen to the word and sing. , 1992.

Web links

Commons : Jan Cornelius (songwriter)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Giermanns 2007
  2. ↑ a b Arends-Vernholz 2004, p. 125.
  3. ↑ Schnieders 1994, p. 105.
  4. ↑ The comedian had bought a mill in Rheiderland and was hoping for helpful tips for interior design from the Cornelius family, who had converted a mill stump in Jemgum into living space in the early 1970s. Several subsequent visits showed him Jan and Jürns musical activities. In February 1978 he made an offer to the brothers regarding the recording of a record with their songs, which was implemented with the help of the sound engineer Günther Pauler.
  5. ↑ Hensmann 1998, p. 102.
  6. ↑ Hensmann 1998, p. 103.
  7. ↑ a b Arends-Vernholz 2004, p. 126.
  8. ↑ Hensmann 1998, pp. 103-105.
  9. ↑ Brinkema 2001, pp. 9-10.
  10. ↑ a b Hensmann 1998, p. 105.
  11. ↑ Brinkema 2001, p. 9.
  12. ↑ AWI 2004, p. 8.
  13. ↑ Bottin, Dittmann (1993), p. 110.
  14. ↑ from the Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum Emden 2009 .
  15. ↑ oostfreeske-taal.de
  16. ↑ Language also conveys home.
  17. ↑ Jan Cornelius - Dreeklang.
  18. ↑ One still sings the word and sings. ( Memento from August 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Cornelius, Jan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION East Frisian songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH November 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Hage by the north