Happy Birthday, Carl Loewe

[Lawrence Snyder]

Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (November 30, 1796 -- April 20,
1869) was born 200 years ago today. Though his instrumental
and stage works have unfortunately left little trace upon the
modern repertoire, his nearly 600 songs for voice and piano
are still with us. From the highly dramatic narrative ballades
like Odins Meeresritt and Erlkoenig, to the poignantly beautiful
lament in Suesses Begraebnis, the comic songs such as Der
Papagei, or the endearing, such as Der Zahn, Loewe's vocal
music exhibits to me an astonishing variety and vitality.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Loewe, and thank you for your Lieder.

--
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Larry Snyder
ldsn...@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us
Davis Community Network
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[eac...@aol.com]

Thanks for the notice of the bicentenary of Karl Loewe. I find his Lieder
most fascinating, even though there are precious few of them currently
available on recordings. I recall that, in the waning years of LP, the
German label Acanta issued a *9 LP* boxed set of his Lieder taken from
wartime German broadcasts with various leading German singers and pianist
Michael Raucheisen. I have recently acquired some of these on a Preiser
CD, sung by Hans Hotter. I do hope that more of this material emerges in
the wake of Loewe's bicentenary. Will there perhaps be a little Loewe
boomlet? Stay tuned... <g> --E.A.C.