The motto of the 4th CLF refers to a statement by Robert Schumann about Carl Loewe on July 29, 1835 in the Leipziger Tageblatt "... Added to this is the rare alliance that composer, singer and virtuoso have made in one person."
This 4th Carl Loewe Festival was once again a highlight in the cultural life of the city of Löbejün and the entire region. Numerous visitors from the region, at home and abroad came to Löbejün to devote themselves to the music of Carl Loewe and to maintain a lively exchange of ideas.
In his welcoming speech, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture assessed the 4th Carl Loewe Festival as follows:
“Culture, music and art is not just a matter of larger cities. In Löbejün they do justice to the idea that culture is not something that can be dispensed with, something that can be saved, something that can be neglected in crises, but rather that it gives our society real support and a supporting foundation because it is elementary and deeply part of humanity.
The absolute highlight was the performance of the world-famous Thomaner Choir under the direction of Thomaskantor Christoph Biller at the opening concert on Friday in the historic town hall of Löbejün.
The second day of the 4th Carl Loewe Festival (Saturday) traditionally began with the honoring at the Carl Loewe Monument, where, in addition to the guests and members of the ICLG, many Löbejün citizens and primary school students had gathered.
As in previous years, the second day continued with a guided tour of the city, where the President of the ICLG was happy to answer the visitors' many questions.
Another highlight of this second day was the ceremonial inauguration of the outside staircase to the Carl Loewe House, which, as part of the complete redesign of the Loewe ensemble, now provides direct access from the market square/town hall to Carl Loewe's former birthplace.
The ICLG is a founding member of the newly founded “Straße der Musik” association, which aims to specifically support music cultivation in Central Germany (Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) and to make the enormous Central German musical culture available to many .
That's why it was a special highlight of this second day of the event that the first plaque on the “Street of Music” was ceremoniously unveiled on the outside stairs to the Loewe House.
The long-awaited 4th volume of the ICLG series of publications - The "political" Loewe - the "self-biography" and the course of history, part 2, was presented to the interested specialist audience in the Bogenhaus of the Stadtgut-Ensemble by the author, the honorary president of the ICLG, Dr . Henry Joachim Kühn, introduced.
This new volume surpasses all previous releases; With almost 400 pages alone, many historical photos and documents and reviews that have never been presented in this context, this volume is a treasure trove for all Loewe enthusiasts.
The second day of the 4th Carl Loewe Festival ended with a song and ballad concert.
Iris Vermillion, mezzo-soprano and Florian Boesch, baritone - both at home on the world's major international stages - interpreted songs, ballads and rarely heard duets in a charming comparison of Loewe compositions with those of Robert Schumann. They were accompanied by the renowned pianist Cord Garben, including president of the Johannes Brahms Society and honorary member of the Carl Loewe Society, who at the beginning of the concert explained the problem of the songs, ballads and duets to the audience with ease and humorous persuasion introduced by Loewe and Schumann.
The third day of the 4th Carl Loewe festival began with a festive service on Sunday morning in the town church of St. Petri. The performance of Loewe's church music compositions by students from the University of Church Music as well as the extremely interesting sermon by Pastor Bartsch greatly impressed the large number of visitors. The fact that Carl Loewe was baptized in this church on the day of his birth and the opportunity to view the baptismal font and the baptismal register in the original and also to photograph the corresponding entry was another very emotional highlight of this holiday for our well-traveled guests .
The 4th Carl Loewe Festival ended with a musical and literary matinee on Sunday morning. In the charming ambience of the historic Bogenhaus, the artists, the Halle concert pianist Maria-Clara Thiele and the actor Volker Dirkes, offered a highly entertaining program.
