The ‘Poet-Musician’ Peter Cornelius was an artist able to create distinguished works in both word and sound. Drawn from various categories of Cornelius’s songs, this programme contains the first modern, complete recording of his rarely performed but melodically attractive duets. These focus on the subject of love, as well as themes of parting and death in the Op 16 collection. His response to the poems of Emil Kuh resulted in warm-hearted, twinkling humour, while Der Tod des Verräters is a flawless parody of Italian Romantic Opera. Volumes 1 and 2 of this complete edition can be found on Naxos 8.572556 and 8.572557.