With these holidays, the long-awaited opening of the Carl Loewe Museum became a reality at a ceremony in the presence of the Minister of Culture of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Stephan Dorgerloh.
The development of the almost dilapidated old school building of yesteryear - built on the foundations of Loewe's birthplace - into this modern musician's museum was supported by many. A special thank you went to the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung, which, together with the Saalesparkasse, made the permanent exhibition on the life, complete works and impact of the most important German ballad composer possible in the Loewe House.
The city of Wettin-Löbejün, other sponsors and countless helpers created this gem. That is why the opening of this world's first Carl Loewe Museum in Löbejün, which complements the series of musicians' museums in Germany, was the focus of many media reports across Germany and even Europe.
The opening ceremony of the Carl Loewe Museum on Friday (April 25, 2014), designed by a young string quartet from Stettin, where Carl Loewe spent almost 46 years of his professional life, marked the start of the 5th Carl Loewe Festival.
During the subsequent tour of the newly designed exhibition, guests from all over Germany, from several European countries and from Japan were able to convince themselves of the unique character of the Carl Loewe Museum. In addition to the presentation of documents that have not yet been made available to the public, such as first printings, original letters and music manuscripts from Carl Loewe, the most defining element is the direct and individual engagement with Carl Loewe's music. At the listening stations, visitors can decide for themselves what they want to hear: ballads, songs, excerpts from oratorios, piano concertos, symphonies, and thus gain a direct impression of Carl Loewe's wide-ranging work. In the attic, what is probably the world's most extensive collection of recordings of Carl Loewe's music, which the ICLG received from collectors in England, allows you to listen to historical recordings on original players.
The aim of the Carl Loewe Festival, to make the entire breadth of Carl Loewe's musical work accessible to the public, particularly through the performance of rarely performed works, was also fully achieved with this festival.
At the opening concert, in addition to the overture to the oratorio “Gutenberg,” excerpts from the oratorio “The Seven Sleepers” and “Job” were also heard, as well as, probably for the first time in over 180 years, the choirs from the music to Ernst Raupach’s dramatic fantasy “Das Fairy tales in dreams or the journey to Rome”.
Traditionally, the second day of the Carl Loewe festival began with a ceremony at the Carl Loewe monument attended by city clubs, citizens and, above all, the students of the Carl Loewe primary school, followed by a city tour “In the footsteps of Carl Loewe”, which ended at the Carl Loewe House and invited participants to the “Open Day” in the new museum.
A special highlight was the naming of a small, previously nameless square between the Carl Loewe House and the town church as “Ian Lilburn Square” on Saturday afternoon with participants from England, France, Ireland, Poland, Japan and all over Germany who welcomed the founder ( Ian Robertson Lilburn, 1927-2013, London) was honored with the world's largest recording collection of Loewe's compositions. A representative special edition with digitized historical recordings (up to 1943) - the Lilburn Collection - was offered to interested music lovers for the first time.
The festival concert on the second evening was dedicated to Carl Loewe's ballads and songs, which were performed with great success by the honorary members of the International Carl Loewe Society, the world-famous pianist Cord Garben, the Berlin chamber singer Prof. Roman Trekel and the Cottbus singer Marlene Lichtenberg became.
For his services to the dissemination of Loewe music in Japan, the singer Prof. Sato, President of the Japanese Carl Loewe Society, from Tokyo was honored as an honorary member of the International Carl Loewe Society.
The final day of the festival began with a celebratory service in the town church of St. Petri in Löbejün. The church choir “Cantemus” of the Protestant parish of Gollma under the direction of Ms. Gisela Webel, district music school “Carl Loewe” performed Carl Loewe’s “Little Passion Music”.
In the subsequent, well-attended matinee in the town hall, the well-known actor Peter Sodann (recitation) and the two young Halle musicians Wolfgang Grohmann (vocals) and Florian Claus (piano) impressed with the performance “Es becken des Nöcken Harfenschall” - a musical story for young and old, which tells the entire life of Carl Loewe.
The 5th Carl Loewe Festival concluded with a student concert “There was a colorful butterfly flying…” from the “Carl Loewe” district music school, in which the excellent results of the students and teachers’ intensive engagement with the various works of Carl Loewe were convincingly presented to the numerous listeners.
