Frederick Loewe (, originally German Friedrich (Fritz) Löwe ; June 10, 1901 – February 14, 1988Palm Springs Cemetery District, "Interments of Interest"
/ref>) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He collaborated with lyricist

Alan Jay Lerner Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre bot ...

on a series of

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

s, including ''

Brigadoon ''Brigadoon'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song " Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a ...

'', '' Paint Your Wagon'', ''My Fair Lady'', and ''Camelot (musical), Camelot'', all of which were made into films, as well as the original film musical ''Gigi (1958 film), Gigi'' (1958), which was first Gigi (musical), transferred to the stage in 1973.

Biography

Loewe was born in Berlin (Charlottenburg), Germany, to Vienna, Viennese parents Edmund and Rosa Loewe. His father was a noted Jewish operetta star who performed throughout Europe and in North America, North and South America; he starred as Count Danilo in the 1906 Berlin production of ''The Merry Widow''. Loewe grew up in Berlin and attended a Prussian cadet school from the age of five until he was thirteen. At an early age Loewe learned to play piano by ear and helped his father rehearse, and he began composing songs at age seven. He eventually attended the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, one year behind virtuoso Claudio Arrau, and studied with Ferruccio Busoni and Eugene d'Albert. He won the coveted Hollander Medal awarded by the school and gave performances as a concert pianist while still in Germany. At 13, he was the youngest piano soloist ever to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1924, his father received an offer to appear in New York City, and Loewe traveled there with him, determined to write for Broadway theatre, Broadway. This proved to be difficult, and he took other odd jobs, including cattle punching, gold mining and prize fighting.Green, Benny. "Frederick Loewe, a prince of musical comedy", ''The Guardian'', February 16, 1988, p. 33 He eventually found work playing piano in German clubs in Yorkville, Manhattan, Yorkville and in movie theaters as the accompanist for silent films. In 1931, he married Ernestine Zerline. Childless, they divorced in 1957. Loewe began to visit the Lambs Club, a hangout for theater performers, producers, managers and directors. He credited The Lambs for keeping him working until his career expanded, and left a share of his royalties of ''Brigadoon'' to The Lambs Foundation. He met

there in 1942. Their first collaboration was a musical adaptation of Barry Connor's farce ''The Patsy'', called ''Life of the Party (musical), Life of the Party'', for a Detroit Stock company (acting), stock company."Frederick Loewe Biography"
masterworksbroadway.com, retrieved May 28, 2018 It enjoyed a nine-week run and encouraged the duo to join forces with Arthur Pierson (director), Arthur Pierson for ''What's Up? (musical), What's Up?'', which opened on Broadway in 1943. It ran for 63 performances and was followed by ''The Day Before Spring'', which ran on Broadway from November 1945 to April 1946. Their first hit was ''Brigadoon (musical), Brigadoon'', a romantic fantasy set in a mystical Scottish village, directed by Robert Lewis (actor), Robert Lewis with choreography by Agnes de Mille. The musical ran on Broadway from March 1947 to July 1948 and won the 1947 New York Drama Critics' Circle award as Best Musical. It was followed in 1951 by the less successful California Gold Rush, Gold Rush story '' Paint Your Wagon''. In 1956, Lerner and Loewe's ''My Fair Lady'' was produced on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Their adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'', with the leads, Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, being played originally by Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, was a huge hit on Broadway and in London. The musical won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer took notice and commissioned them to write the film musical ''Gigi (1958 film), Gigi'' (1958), which won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Their next Broadway musical was ''Camelot (musical), Camelot'' in 1960. The production starred Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet. According to ''Playbill'', "The show achieved an unprecedented advance sale of three and a half million dollars, propelled in part by a preview on the Ed Sullivan Show that featured its stars, Richard Burton and Julie Andrews." ''Camelot'' ran for 873 performances. Loewe then decided to retire to Palm Springs, California, where he bought a home in 1960. For many years he did not write anything until he was approached by Lerner to augment the ''Gigi'' film score with additional tunes for a Gigi (musical), 1973 stage adaptation, which won him his second Tony, this time for Best Original Score. In 1974 they collaborated on a musical film version of ''The Little Prince (1974 film), The Little Prince'', based on the classic children's tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This film was a critical failure, but the soundtrack recording and the film itself are in print on CD and DVD. Loewe and Lerner were nominated for the 1974 Academy Award for Best Song and Best Adapted or Original Song Score (with Angela Morley and Douglas Gamley). Loewe was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. Seven years later, in 1979, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Loewe remained in Palm Springs until his death at 86. The cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to John F. Morris, an artist and longtime friend. He had a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated to him in 1995. He was buried in the Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.

Notes

References

* Gene Lees, Lees, Gene (2005). ''The Musical Worlds of Lerner and Loewe'', U of Nebraska Press,

External links

* * * *
Frederick Loewe Collection
at the Library of Congress * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loewe, Frederick American musical theatre composers Male musical theatre composers American male songwriters Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songwriters Golden Globe Award-winning musicians Broadway composers and lyricists Kennedy Center honorees German emigrants to the United States American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Jewish American composers Jewish American songwriters Musicians from Berlin Musicians from Palm Springs, California 1901 births 1988 deaths Burials at Desert Memorial Park 20th-century classical musicians Songwriters from California 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians Tony Award winners