Margarete von Loë

Baroness Margarete “Didi” von Loë was born on 4 July 1866. Her father was Field Marshal Walter Freiherr von Loë, a prominent military strategist and a close confidant of Emperor Wilhelm I. As a member of the nobility, she received a private education and was not required to earn her own living. Instead, Margarete von Loë devoted herself to the fields of nursing. For a period of time, she worked at the Ottohaus, a hospital operated by the Women’s Association in Neuwied.
In 1907, she became the primary nurse, caregiver, and trusted lady companion to Princess Marie of Wied at the royal widow’s residence, Schloss Segenhaus. In this role, her life became closely intertwined with European royalty of the era. Between 1907 and 1917, she managed correspondence, hosted intellectual gatherings, and maintained highly personal relationships with figures such as Queen Victoria of Sweden and Queen Elisabeth of Romania.
Alongside her caregiving responsibilities, she established herself as a published composer, musicologist, and translator. In 1910 and 1913, several of her songs for voice and piano were published by the Giessen-based publisher Challier. In 1916, she published a book on the composer of art songs Robert Franz, followed in 1919 by a similar work on Adolf Henselt. Both books were published by the renowned music publisher Breitkopf & Härtel. Her musical works were published under the name Didi Loë.
In 1922, expanding her work beyond music, she demonstrated her linguistic abilities by translating the Norwegian historian Fredrik Paasche’s literary study of Goethe into German.
In the early 1930s, she moved to Bonn. However, a serious illness left her bedridden and prevented her from continuing her work in nursing as well as her activities in composition and music scholarship.
Margarete von Loë died on 23 October 1943 in Bonn (Germany).

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the "Polonaise" for piano by Margarete von Loë. The manuscript is not dated and bears the signature "Didi Loë". The work remained unpublished.