Carl Loewe's greatest musical significance lies in his setting of poems and ballads, usually for a singing voice with piano accompaniment. They were mostly poets of his time (Goethe, Heine, Rückert, Eichendorff and many others) whose texts he sensitively interpreted musically. His maxim was: "The music follows the word."

He managed to create a masterful combination of poetry and music. By specifically combining epic, lyrical and dramatic elements, he understood how to underline the content of a ballad using singing and piano accompaniment.

His compositional work includes around 500 ballads, songs and chants, 18 oratorios, 6 operas, 2 symphonies, 2 piano concertos, 4 string quartets, other chamber music, piano works and choral compositions.

“We can count him as one of the stepchildren of music historical research, and to this day his image fluctuates between favor and rejection, between recognition and ridicule; Some overestimate it, others underestimate it. Anyone who knows him knows how to love him. Anyone who doesn't know him shares the judgment of the masses." (Gerhard Dallmann, Carl Loewe - a life for music, Greifswald, 1996)