Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SCHRIDER SCHRODEE-DEVRIENT 275
Grosse Studien for violin alone, three volumes
of Technical Studies, Scale Studies, Guide to the
Study of Cliords, Finger Exercises, and 'The
First Position. ' He has also interested himself
in questions connected with the making of
violins. w. w. c.
SCHRIDER, SCHREIDER, or SCHRODER,
Christopher, was one of Father Smith's workmen,
and previous to 1708 had become his
son-in-law. After Smith's death he succeeded
to his business, and in 1710 was organ-builder
to the Royal Chapels. His organs do not
appear to be very numerous, that of Westminster
being his c/ief-d'ceuvre. It was built
for the coronation of George II. in 1727, and
was presented to the Abbey by the King
(Chrysander's ffdndel, ii. 174, note). He put
up another organ in Henry the Seventh's
Chapel for the funeral of Queen Caroline,
Dec. 17, 1737, when Handel's noble anthem,
'
The ways of Zion,' was first sung to its accompaniment
(i6i(i. p. 437, note; Stanley's Westminster
Abbey, p. 166). An amusing epitaph
is quoted in Scott's Gleanings from Westrm/nster
Abbey, 2nd ed. p. 279. v. db p.
SCHRODER-DEVRIENT, Wilhelminb, a
highly-gifted dramatic singer, was born at
Hamburg, Deo. 6, 1804.1 Herfather, Friedrich
Schroder—who died in 1818— had been an
excellent baritone singer, a favourite in many
'
operas, especially in Mozart's Don Juan,'
which he was the first to act in German. Her
mother was Antoinette Sophie Biirger, a celebrated
actress, sometimes called ' the German
Siddons.
AVilhelmine weis the eldest of four children.
She enjoyed great advantages of training
dancing lessons, and public appearances in
ballets in early childhood, helped her to mastery
of attitude and elasticity of movement ; afterwards,
when her parents' wanderings led them
to Vienna, she took such parts as Ophelia, and
Aricia (Schiller's ; Phadra '), at the Hofburgtheater,
receiving careful instruction in gesture
and delivery from her mother, who afterwards
superintended her study of operatic parts.
Thus there was no trace of the debutante,
when, in 1821, Wilhelmine made a brilliant
first appearance at the Vienna opera-house as
Pamina in 'Die Zauberflbte.' The freshness
of her well -developed soprano, her purity of
intonation and certainty of attack, astonished
the public. Other early triumphs were Emmeline
(Weigl's Schweizerfamilie '),
'
Marie
(Gr^try's 'Barbe bleu '2), where she showed
herself worthy of all praise ' as well in singing
as in acting, especially in parts demanding
passionate expression.' As Agathe (' Der Freischutz
') her glorious voice and charming appearance
won great approval, not only from
'
the public who already loved her,' but from
1 Aceoiiilin^ to her own account, aa quoted in Glilmer'a Erinnerungen,
and not in October 1805, aa stated by F^tis.
3 'Raonl Barbe bleu' (1789), GermaDised into 'Kaoul der Blaubart.'
Weber, who presided over the performance at
Vienna, March 7, 1822. But her great achievement
was the creation of the part of Leonore,
on the revival of ' Fidelio ' at Vienna later
in the year. Hitherto connoisseurs had failed
to discover the merits of Beethoven's opera.
Mile. Schroder's impersonation of the heroine,
besides laying the foundation of her own fame,
redeemed the music from the imputation of
coldness, won for the work the praise so long
withheld, and achieved its ultimate popularity
by repeated performances in Germany, London,
and Paris. The story of her first appearance
in the part has often been quoted from Gliimer's
Erinnerungen an Wilfielmine Schroder Dcvrient.
Beethoven was present at the performance.
'
He sat behind the conductor, and had wrapped
himself so closely in the folds of his cloak that
only his eyes could be seen flashing from it.'
Schroder's natural anxiety only heightened the
effect of her acting. A breathless stillness
filled the house until Leonore fell into the
arms of her husband, when a storm of applause
broke out which seemed unceasing. To Beethoven
also had his Leonore been revealed in
the glowing life of Schroder's representation.
He smilingly patted her cheek, thanked her,
and promised to write an opera for her. , Would
that he had !
In 1823 she went to Dresden to fulfil a
contract to sing at the Court Theatre for two
years, at a salary of 2000 thalers. (At a later
period she received 4000 thalers at the same
house, for her connection with Dresden never
entirely ceased as long as she was on the stage.)
She married Karl Devrient, an excellent actor
whom she met in Berlin during an engagement
there that year. Four children were born,
but the marriage was not a happy one, and
was dissolved in 1828. Dm-ing the next eight
years she delighted her audiences by her appearance
in the great classical characters which
ever remained her most successful parts. In
Weber's operas, as Preciosa, Euryanthe, and
'
I had to think not only of own
Reiza, she is said to have thrown a new light
over both story and music, gradually heightening
the interest of the work until a torrent of
inspiration carried all before it. In Spontini's
'
Vestale ' she was the very personification of
the spirit of the antique. Yet no less did
she succeed, in Paer's comic opera, ' Sargino,'
in singing with so much finish, and acting
with so much humour, that it became a matter
of dispute whether tragedy or comedy was
her forte.
In 1830 she passed through Weimar and
sang to Goethe on her way to Paris to join
Riickel's German company. With an exalted
sense of the importance of her mission,
my
she
wrote :
reputation, but to establish German music.
My failure would have been injurious to the
music of Beethoven, Mozart, and Weber.'