Loewe

Loewe, JOHANN CARL GOTTFRIED, composer, was born 30th November 1796, between Köthen and Halle, the twelfth son of a schoolmaster. He became a choir-boy at Köthen, later studied music and theology at Halle, and in 1821 settled at Stettin, where he became successively professor in the gymnasium, musical director to the city, and organist. He made visits to Norway, Sweden, and France, and in 1847 sang and played before the English court in London. He died 20th April 1869. He composed five operas (of which only one, The Three Wishes, was performed), sixteen oratorios (several of them for voices only, without accompaniment), and numerous symphonies, concertos, duets, and other works for the pianoforte. But his ballads are his most notable bequest to posterity; they are, many of them, remarkable dramatic poems, and in some respects Loewe may claim to have done for the ballad what Wagner did for opera. Gehring, in Grove's Dictionary (1880), said that Loewe's 'music has gone for ever'; but more recently a good deal of attention has been called to the ballads. See The Art Ballad, Loewe and Schubert, by A. Bach (Edin. 1890).