Kleine Präludien und Intermezzi #2

Hermann Schroeder (26 March 1904 – 7 October 1984) was a German composer and a Catholic church musician. 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.Schroeder died on 7 October 1984 in Bad Orb aged 80.

I became fascinated with Schroeder's music back in the late 90's, and was in the process to collect and record all of his organ music. I got sidetracked somewhere along the way, but I still love his music.

This is #2 of the collection, a gentle andante.

Alas, much of the early 20th C German repertoire was neglected due to association with the Nazi regime.... a lot of it deserves to be better know.