Johann Christian Lobe

Who was Johann Christian Lobe?

Johann Christian Lobe was a German composer and music theorist.

Born in Weimar, Lobe was either self-taught as a musician or had music lessons from the age of seven. In 1810, he became violinist in the Weimar Court Orchestra, or else was a flautist and joined the Weimar orchestra in 1811. He composed many musical works before 1819, and debuted as a composer in 1821, with the opera Wittekind, which was followed by a number of others, including Die Flibustier and Die Fürstin von Granada, as well as some orchestral works. Die Fürstin von Grenada was especially successful. Either in 1842 or 1845 he retired from his position in the Weimar orchestra, was appointed a professor and in 1846 moved to Leipzig, where he worked as a music-composition teacher and music critic. He is today best remembered for his writings on music, of which his most important work is Lehrbuch der musikalischen Komposition. He died in Leipzig in 1881.