Topic: Frederick Loewe

Frederick Loewe (June 10, 1901 - February 14, 1988) was a Tony Award-winning Austrian-American composer.

Loewe was born in Vienna to Viennese parents Edmond and Rosa Loewe. His father Edmond was a noted Jewish operetta star who performed throughout Europe and in North and South America; he starred as Count Danilo in the original production of The Merry Widow. Loewe grew up in Berlin and attended a Prussian cadet school from the age of five until he was thirteen. At an early age Loewe learned to play piano by ear and helped his father rehearse, and he began composing songs at age seven. He eventually attended a music conservatory in Berlin, one year behind virtuoso Claudio Arrau, and studied with Ferruccio Busoni and Eugene d'Albert. He won the coveted Hollander Medal awarded by the school and gave performances as a concert pianist while still in Germany. At 13, he was the youngest piano soloist ever to appear with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.

In 1924, his father received an offer to appear in New York, and Loewe traveled there with him, determined to write for Broadway. This proved to be difficult, and he took other odd jobs, including cattle punching, gold mining and prize fighting. He eventually found work playing piano in German clubs in Yorkville and in movie theaters as the accompanist for silent films.