Carl Loewe's

Abstract

Carl Loewe (1796-1869) was a prolific composer of works for voice and piano with an output exceeding 400 pieces. Just as Schubert pioneered Lieder as a new genre of art music in the nineteenth century, Loewe can be credited for his comparable innovation with the ballad, a narrative song that depicts a story. Though Loewe is often considered a conservative musical figure in the nineteenth century, later romantic composers like Richard Wagner and Hugo Wolf held his ballads in high regard, as they show Loewe's compositional originality in boldly producing drama through the piano-singer format. This document displays how Loewe in his ballad cycle Gregor auf dem Stein, Op. 38 (1834) creates a continuous musical drama to enhance a theological legend. This work is an example of how Loewe foreshadows aspects of later German Romanticism, more fully realized by Wagner and Wolf, through use of musical and dramatic continuity, progressive tonality, motives, and declamatory vocal style.