Loewe, Frederick
LOEWE, FREDERICK
LOEWE, FREDERICK (1904–1988), composer. Born in Vienna, Loewe studied piano with Busoni and d'Albert in Berlin and then began his career as a concert pianist. He went to the United States in 1924, where he soon began composing songs and musical comedies. Loewe's first Broadway shows were not very successful, but his fortunes changed when he met the librettist Alan Jay *Lerner in 1942. Together they wrote some of the most sophisticated theater music of the 20th century. Their first real hit was Brigadoon (1947), followed by Paint Your Wagon (1951), My Fair Lady (1956) based on Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, and the film score for Gigi (1958), which won nine Academy Awards. Their final collaboration was the musical Camelot (1960). Loewe's music springs from the European operetta tradition, adapted to appeal to an American audience, and he accommodated his musical style to the characters and the location of the story of each play.
bibliography:
Grove online; L. Gene, Inventing Champagne: The Worlds of Lerner and Loewe (1990).
[Naama Ramot (2nd ed.)]