Loewe, (Johann) Carl (Gottfried) (1796–1869)

German composer. He is remembered chiefly for his songs and settings of narrative poems such as ‘Archibald Douglas’ and ‘Tom the Rhymer’.

He was a choirboy at Cöthen, and in 1809 went to the grammar school at Halle. Encouraged by Jérôme Bonaparte, then king of Westphalia, he devoted himself to composition, to further studies, to the learning of French and Italian and later, at Halle University, the study of theology. Jérôme's flight in 1813 deprived him of his income, but he managed to make a living and in 1820 became professor and cantor at Stettin, and was appointed music director and organist in 1821. He visited Vienna, Austria, in 1844, London, England, in 1847, Sweden and Norway in 1851, and France in 1857. In 1864 he suffered from a six-week coma and was asked to resign in 1866, when he went to live in Kiel, Germany. He died there after a similar attack.

Works Opera Die Alpenhütte (1816), Rudolf der Deutsche (1825), Malekadhel (after Scott's The Talisman, 1832), Neckerein (1833), Die drei Wünsche (1834), Emmy (after Scott's Kenilworth, 1842).

Oratorios Die Zerstörung Jerusalems (1829), Palestrina (1841), Hiob, Die Auferweckung des Lazarus (1863), and 12 others.

Other symphonies; concertos; piano solos and duets; numerous songs and ballads, including Goethe's ‘Erlkönig’, Fontane's German versions of ‘Archibald Douglas’, ‘Tom the Rhymer’.