He directed Berlin's first postwar Opera performance on August 12, 1945 (Rossini’s Barber of Seville), singing the Role of Count Almaviva. The performance was staged as a chamber opera and performed before a full house, with representatives from the American military government, Critic Christian Wrickert wrote, "the attempt was an adventure, but the success justified Bronsgeest." Personal life He married Charlotte Kant (1888–1965) in 1912, a German post-impressionist painter, who eased him access to the Berlin and German intelligentsia. She was the niece of Themistocles Gluck (1853-1942 in Berlin) the German physician and surgeon and major contributor to the history of Orthopaedics science and the sister of two famous German neuropsychiatrists, Otto Kant (Contributor to the Vienna Circle, Zur Biologie der Ethik, 1932 ) and Fritz Kant who have emigrated to the US in 1933. Their two children, Dietrich-Cornelis Bronsgeest and Esther Hardeland-Bronsgeest lived respectively in France and in Germany. Legacy His legacy,biography and memoirs are curated by his son Dietrich-Cornelis Bronsgeest and descendants. He was remembered in articles of German Radio Revue in 1957 and 1958 that celebrated several anniversaries including the 1924 Radio Premiere, and other events or exhibitions organised by the Berlin StaatsOper or the Rundfunk Berlin. External links Biography of Cornelis Bronsgeest - Work in Progress by Anton van Kempen References 1878 births 1957 deaths 20th-century Dutch male opera singers Dutch bass-baritones People from Leiden Dutch expatriates in Germany