Peter Heise (11 February 1830 - 12 September 1879) was a Danish composer, best known for the opera Drot og Marsk (King and Marshal).Heise's parents tried to press him into becoming a lawyer, but he scored highly in music at school, so he changed direction. He began writing songs at the age of 19. As a young man he collected several hundred folk songs directly from ordinary people. He used these tunes in Tornerose (Sleeping Beauty) andBergliot (A Danish historical romance).