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Carl Loewe | |
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 Carl Loewe | |
| Born | Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe 30 November 1796 |
| Died | 20 April 1869(1869-04-20) (aged 72) |
| Occupations | Composer, tenor singer and conductor |
Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (German:[ˈjoːhankaʁlˈɡɔtfʁiːtˈløːvə]; 30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869), usually calledCarl Loewe (sometimes seen as Karl Loewe), was a Germancomposer,tenor singer andconductor from the lateClassical and earlyRomantic periods. In his lifetime, his songs ("Balladen") were well enough known for some to call him the "Schubert of North Germany",[1] andHugo Wolf came to admire his work. He is less known today, but hisballads and songs, which number over 400, are occasionally performed.
Loewe was born inLöbejün in thePrussianDuchy of Magdeburg and received his first music lessons from his father. He was a choir-boy, first atKöthen, and later atHalle, where he went to grammar school. The beauty of Loewe's voice brought him under the notice ofMadame de Staël, who procured him a pension fromJérôme Bonaparte, then king ofWestphalia,[2] which enabled him to further his education in music, and to studytheology atHalle University. In 1810, he began lessons in Halle withDaniel Gottlob Türk.[3] This ended in 1813, on the flight of the king.[2]
In 1820, he moved to Stettin inPrussia (nowSzczecin in Poland), where he worked asorganist and music director of the school. It was while there that he did most of his work as a composer, publishing a version ofGoethe's "Erlkönig" in 1824 (written 1817/18) which some say at least equalsSchubert's better known version.[4][5] He went on to set many other poets' works, includingFriedrich Rückert, and translations ofWilliam Shakespeare andLord Byron.
In 1821 he married Julie von Jacob, who died in 1823. His second wife, Auguste Lange, was an accomplished singer, and they appeared together in hisoratorio performances with great success.[2]
On 20 February 1827,[6] he conducted the first performance of the 18-year-oldFelix Mendelssohn'sOvertureA Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 21. He and Mendelssohn were also soloists in Mendelssohn'sConcerto in A-flat major for 2 pianos and orchestra.[7]
Later in life, Loewe became very popular both as a composer and as a singer. As a youth, he had a highsoprano voice (he could sing the music of the Queen of the Night inThe Magic Flute as a boy), and his voice developed into a finetenor.[2] He made several tours as a singer in the 1840s and 1850s, visiting England, France, Sweden and Norway amongst other countries. He eventually moved back to Germany, and, after quitting his posts in Stettin after 46 years, moved toKiel, where he would die from astroke on 20 April 1869.
Loewe was also active as a music teacher. His most famous student, whom he taught composition from 1841 to 1847, wasEmilie Mayer, of whom he said that "such a God-given talent as hers had not been bestowed upon any other person he knew".[8] Mayer would later go on enjoying a successful career in Berlin as a freelance composer, ultimately earning her the nickname "weibliche Beethoven" (eng. female Beethoven).[9]
Loewe wrote fiveoperas, of which only one,Die drei Wünsche, was performed at Berlin in 1834, without much success; seventeen oratorios, many of them for male voices unaccompanied, or with short instrumental interludes only; choral ballads,cantatas, threestring quartets (his opus 24,[10]) and a pianoforte trio;[11] a work forclarinet andpiano, published posthumously; and some piano solos.[2]
But the branch of his art by which he is remembered is the solo ballad with pianoforte accompaniment. His treatment of long narrativepoems, in a clever mixture of the dramatic andlyrical styles, was undoubtedly modelled on the ballads ofJohann Rudolf Zumsteeg, and has been copied by many composers since his day. His settings of the "Erlkönig" (a very early example), "Archibald Douglas" on a text byTheodor Fontane, "Heinrich der Vogler", "Edward" on a translation byJohann Gottfried Herder ofa British ballad, and "Die verfallene Mühle", are particularly fine.[2]
There are at least two symphonies by Loewe – one, in D minor, has been recorded on theKoch Schwann label together with the first of at least two CD recordings of Loewe's second piano concerto (in A major), and another, in E minor, was given its first performance in 170 years in November 2004.[12] (Thecpo series of recordings of Loewe's complete ballads includes as well a recording of twopiano sonatas and a "tone poem in sonata form", with one of the sonatas – the E major of 1829 – having a vocal part for soprano and baritone.[13])
In 1875, atBayreuth,Richard Wagner remarked of Loewe, "Ha, das ist ein ernster, mit Bedeutung die schöne deutsche Sprache behandelnder, nicht hoch genug zu ehrender deutscher Meister, echt und wahr!" (Ha, that is a serious German Master, authentic and true, one who uses the beautiful German language with meaning, one who cannot be sufficiently revered!).[14]
Loewe's earliest songs, such as theAcht Jugenlieder and theAnakreontische Lieder, follow the musical pattern of the late 18th century tradition, using a single melodic line, basic accompaniment, and mostlystrophic and varied strophic forms.
Under Zumsteeg's influence, Loewe began incorporating and cultivating the ballad form into his vocal songs. When compared to otherLieder composers, Loewe's rhapsodic composition style is said to have "a striking absence of organic musical development".[15] His settings of poetry separated poetic ideas and treated them episodically rather than using unifying motifs (like fellow Lieder composer, Franz Schubert).
One of Loewe's strengths as a composer were his "imaginative and, at times, daring" accompaniments, which were often atmospheric and exploited the piano's sonorous and tonal potential.[15]
In 2012 anurn thought to contain the heart of Carl Loewe was found inside theSzczecin Cathedral's southern pillar during the renovation works carried out that year.[16] A special commission appointed by the Szczecińsko-Kamieńska MetropolitanCuria has deduced, on the basis of historical records and an inscription on the pillar, that the urn indeed contains the heart of Carl Loewe.[17]
Notes
Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Löwe, Johann Karl Gottfried".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 73.
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