He was a student of Ludwig van Beethoven and Daniel Gottlob Turk and Carl Friedrich Zelter.
On November 23, 1823 Beethoven dedicated his three-part canon "Kurz ist der Schmerz", WoO 163, to Naue.
The text "Kurz ist der Schmerz und ewig ist die Freude" ("Brief is the pain and forever is the joy"), is from The Maid of Orleans by Friedrich von Schiller, the same poet who wrote the text for Beethoven's "Ode to Joy.
"[2] In 1829, Naue sold all of his books and spent all of his inheritance in order to finance a music festival in Halle.
He often composed commissioned occasional or festive music, such as military and triumphal marches for the Prussian army.