Lobe, Johann Christian

Lobe, Johann Christian, German flutist, violist, writer on music, and composer; b. Weimar, May 30, 1797; d. Leipzig, July 27, 1881. He received training in flute and violin in Weimar, his principal mentor being A.E. Müller. In 1808 he became a flutist in the Weimar ducal orch., where he later was a violist until being pensioned in 1842. He then ran his own music school until settling in Leipzig, where he ed. the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (1846–48) and Fliegende Blätter für Musik (1855–57), and subsequently was music ed. of the Illustrierte Zeitung.During his years in Weimar, he became a friend of Goethe. He championed the cause of Weimar classicism and German romanticism.

Works

dramatic: opera (all first perf. in Weimar): Wittekind, Herzog von Sachsen (1819); Die Flibustier (Sept. 5, 1829); Die Fürstin von Granada, oder Der Zauberblick (Sept. 28, 1833); Der rote Domino (1835; April 22, 1837); König und Pächter (1844). orch.: 2 syms.; overtures; concertos.chamber: Piano quartets; variations and solos for flute.

Writings

(all publ. in Leipzig unless otherwise given): Compositionslehre oder umfassende Lehre von thematische Arbeit (Weimar, 1844); Lehrbuch der musikalischen Composition (4 vols., 1850–67; rev. ed., 1884–87, by H. Kretzschmar); Handbuch der Musik (n.d.; ed. by R. Hofmann; 31^st ed., 1926); Katechismus der Musik (1851; Eng. tr., 1886); Aus dem Leben eines Musikers (1859); Consonanzen und Dissonanzen (1869).

Bibliography

W. Bode, Goethes Schauspieler und Musiker: Erinnerungen von Eberwein und L.(Berlin, 1912).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire