Frederick Loewe

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Frederick Loewe ([ ˈloʊ ]; born June 10, 1901 in Berlin ; † February 14, 1988 in Palm Springs , California ; originally Friedrich (Fritz) Löwe ), was an American composer of Austrian-German origin.

Life

Frederick Loewe was born to the Viennese couple Edmund Loewe and Rosa Löwe, spent his childhood and youth with his mother in Berlin , while his father Edmund Loewe traveled the world as a singer and actor ( Operettenbuffo ). He followed him to New York City in 1924 . There he kept himself afloat with smaller jobs (also as a boxer) and as a pianist in nightclubs, beer halls and bars ( alcohol prohibition was in effect in the United States at this time ). In the mid-1930s he met the writer Earle Crooker, with whom he wrote his first musicals.

In 1942 he began working with songwriter Alan Jay Lerner for the new version (Life of the Party) of Salute to Spring . Brigadoon became their first mutual success and their union one of the most successful working groups in American theater history. My Fair Lady , based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw , became one of the most successful musicals and is part of the repertoire of many theaters around the world. The film adaptations of the musicals also ensured their great popularity. For the title song of the film version of Gigi received Lerner and Loewe an Oscar .

After the musical Camelot , Loewe retired, also with regard to the heart attack he had survived in 1958, until he started working again with Lerner in the early 1970s.

In 1995, the Frederick-Loewe-Weg in Vienna - Donaustadt (22nd district) was named after him.

Works

Musicals

  • 1937: Salute to Spring (with Crooker)
  • 1938: Great Lady (with Crooker)
  • 1942: Life of the Party (revised Salute to Spring )
  • 1943: What's Up?
  • 1945: The Day Before Spring
  • 1947: Brigadoon
  • 1951: Paint Your Wagon
  • 1956: My Fair Lady
  • 1960: Camelot
  • 1973: Gigi

Film work

Film adaptations

Awards

Musicals:

Films:

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b biography on the Frederick Loewe Foundation website
personal data
SURNAME Loewe, Frederick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leo, Friedrich (real name); Löwe, Fritz (other name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 1988
Place of death Palm Springs , California , United States