Karl Schroder (1848-1935) was very close in significance and creative style to Friedrich Grutzmacher. They both studied with Karl Drechsler; that is where Schroder's ties with the Dresden school originate. His versatile musical activity primarily centered in Zonderhausen, Leipzig, Hamburg and Berlin. An excellent cellist, he played solo in a number of chapels (in the 1874-1881 period-in the Leipzig Gewandhaus) and for a long time in a quartet with his brothers Hermann, Franz and Alwin.
Schroder figures in the history of the German art of the violoncello mainly as a teacher at the Leipzig (1874-1881), Zonderhausen (1890-1907) and Berlin (1913-1924) conservatoires, and also as the author of numerous editions of classical violoncello music. In this respect he followed Grutzmacher. His editions of the cello sonatas by Marcello, Bononcini, Pasqualini, Cervetto, Gasparino, Vandini, Lanzetti, Grazioli, Boccherini and others were used extensively in concert and teaching. Schroder's editions of Bach's two solo suites rearranged for the cello with piano accompaniment shows, on the one hand, his recognition of the concert significance of these works., but on the other, a misunderstanding of the musical essence of the suites, which do not need any accompaniment.
Schroder's teaching compositions -schools, etudes, and exercises-are of little use today. His Method Op. 34, Method of scales and chords Op. 29, Method of trills and staccato Op. 39 as well as his etudes compiled of the solo parts of the old masters' works might be mentioned.
The Catechism of Violoncello Playing which Schroder edited in 1890 can be called a manual for the cellist. It provides the main information about the history and design of the instrument, about the development of the technique and the performing style of a cellist. The author mentions the Triple Concerto by Beethoven, the D Major Concerto by Haydn, concertos by Schumann and Folkmann, the gamba sonatas by J.S. Bach, and concertos by Rubinstein, Dvorak, D'Alber and Saint-Saens. The chapter on performance in the Catechism is evidence of Schroder's progressive esthetic ideas. |
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