Loewe, Frederick

(born June 10, 1901, Berlin, Ger.—died Feb. 14, 1988, Palm Springs, Calif., U.S.) German-born U.S. songwriter. Son of a Viennese tenor, Loewe was a piano prodigy; at age 13 he became the youngest soloist ever to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied with Ferruccio Busoni and Eugène d'Albert. His song “Katrina,” written at age 15, sold more than a million copies. Arriving in the U.S. in 1924, he contributed music to Broadway revues. In 1942 he met Alan Jay Lerner; their 18-year collaboration would produce five classic musicals. Personal differences ended their partnership after Camelot (1960), but they reunited to adapt their film Gigi (1958) for the stage (1973) and to write songs for the film The Little Prince (1974).

Loewe, Frederick (“Fritz”) (1904–88) composer; born in Vienna, Austria. Son of Edmund Loewe, an operetta tenor, at age 13 he was the youngest pianist to solo with the Berlin Symphony. At age 15 he composed "Katrina" (1919), which sold two million copies of sheet music in Europe. Although he had studied with great European masters of the piano, when he came to the U.S.A. in 1924 he failed as a piano virtuoso. He took up a series of odd jobs—prospecting for gold, professional boxing—but by the mid-1930s he had launched his career as a composer for the musical theater. Not until he teamed up with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner in 1942, however, did he find his true talent; their first big success was Brigadoon (1947) and this was followed by such classic stage and film musical scores as My Fair Lady (1956), Gigi (1958), and Camelot (1960). This last led to their falling-out and they did not collaborate again until in 1973 when they made a stage version of their film musical, Gigi. Their last collaboration was The Little Prince (1974), after which Loewe retired.