Hermann Schroeder (26 March 1904 – 7 October 1984) was a German composer and a Catholic church musician.
Life
Schroeder was born in Bernkastel and spent the greatest part of his life’s work in the Rheinland. His mother's family had common ancestry with Beethoven. He studied from 1926 to 1930 at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, where his most important teachers were Heinrich Lemacher and Walter Braunfels (composition), Hermann Abendroth (conducting), and Hans Bachem (organ).
His main sphere of activity as composer, conductor and organist were supplemental to his work as a professor of choral conducting, counterpoint, and composition. Upon graduation from the conservatory, he obtained a post teaching music theory at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne. Eight years later he became organist at the cathedral in Trier. He remained in this post until the end of the war, adding the position of director of the Trier School of Music in 1940. After the war he taught music theory at the Cologne Musikhochschule beginning in 1946, becoming a professor there in 1948 and deputy director in 1958. He was also a reader at Bonn University from 1946 until 1973, and a lecturer at the University of Cologne from 1956 until 1961. He also conducted various semiprofessional ensembles such as the Bach-Verein Köln and the Rheinischer Kammerchor.
His notable students include Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Schroeder died on 7 October 1984 in Bad Orb aged 80.
Compositions
Schroeder's main accomplishments as a composer were in of Catholic church music, where he attempted to break free of the lingering monopoly held by Romantic music. His works are characterized by the employment of medieval elements such as Gregorian chant, modal scales, and fauxbourdon which he combined with quintal and quartal harmonies and 20th-century polyphonic linear, sometimes atonal writing similar to that of Paul Hindemith. His catalog includes much organ music as well as folk-song settings, German settings of the Ordinary and Proper of the Mass, and chamber music (especially with the organ).
Honours and awards
Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Düsseldorf, 1952
Arts Prize of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz, 1956.
Selected works
Stage
Hero und Leander, opera in six scenes after Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen by Franz Grillparzer (1944–50)
Choral
Missa dorica, op. 15, for choir a capella (1932) Missa Gregoriana, for mixed choir, schola, congregation, and organ (1957)
Orchestral
Concerto for string orchestra, Op. 25 (1936–37) Symphony in D minor, Op. 27 (1940–41) Festliche Musik, for string orchestra and piano (1955) Concerto for cello and orchestra, Op. 24 (1937) Concerto for organ and orchestra, Op. 25 (1938) Concerto for oboe and orchestra, Op. 34 (1955) Concerto for piano and orchestra, Op. 35 (1955–56) Concerto for violin and orchestra (1956) Concerto for flute and orchestra, Op. 37 (1958) Veni creator Spiritus, hymn for large orchestra, Op. 39 (1961–62) Concerto for 2 violins and orchestra, Op. 41 (1965) Concertino for piano and winds, Op. 42 (1966) Concerto for viola and orchestra, Op. 45 (1970) Capriccio a due tempi, for orchestra (1972) Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, Op. 47 (1973) Concerto for trumpet and orchestra, Op. 53 (1973) Concertino for clarinet and string orchestra, Op. 54 (1978)