Schroeder

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Lore & Background

Schroeder has short, yellow hair and almost always wears a purple or blue striped shirt, black shorts, and brown Oxford shoes. Despite playing only a toy piano, Schroeder is a very talented musician who is obsessed with the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, to the point where he almost never expands his musical portfolio beyond Beethoven's work. Since he is Schroeder's 'hero', he wants to be like Beethoven. As Beethoven was a lifelong bachelor, Schroeder thinks he should be the same, one reason he rejects Lucy's love interest in him. Schroeder has also played a real piano in several strips. Schroeder's admiration is so great that he often dismisses Christmas in favor of December 17, Beethoven's purported birthday (actually the day of his baptism). By far Schroeder's most significant relationship in the strip is with Lucy Van Pelt, who has a crush on him because she sees his artistic inclination as romantic. This makes Schroeder one of the few people Lucy never dislikes, and she often fantasizes about marrying him. Lucy most often expresses her affection by leaning back on his piano and trying to engage him in conversation while he plays. Knowing Lucy well, Schroeder does not fall for this and resists her romantic overtures. But he comes to enjoy her attention and will participate in conversation, though she often offends him. Charlie Brown, Frieda, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy are also occasionally depicted leaning on Schroeder's piano. Snoopy sometimes dances on it. While not one of his closer friends, Schroeder is generally on good terms with Charlie Brown. He usually does not stoop to the level of the other kids, but he is not above it. Perhaps the most significant instance of his standing up for Charlie Brown is when he angrily berates Violet Gray for giving Charlie Brown a used valentine a full month after Valentine's Day, saying he had feelings and deserved better, only for Charlie Brown to eagerly accept it. Schroeder is also the catcher on Charlie Brown's baseball team, though he is usually seen walking back to the pitcher's mound with the baseball, never throwing it—admitting in one strip he did not want the other team to discover his lack of ability. He also is one of the few players who has any respect for Charlie Brown as a manager; he is as capable of ire at Charlie Brown's poor performance as anyone, but such

In Their Own Story

Schroeder was introduced as a baby on May 30, 1951, but he aged up to the maturity level of the other characters over the next three years. In his initial appearance, Patty refers to him as a next-door neighbor. His address is 1770 James Street, easy to remember for him because the number is Beethoven's birth year. In 1954, Schroeder's birthday was revealed to be January 18. Schulz had the idea to incorporate his daughter Meredith's toy piano into the strip, and decided to give it to the newest character. The origin of his name can be found in Schulz's 1975 book Peanuts Jubilee: 'Schroeder was named after a young boy with whom I used to caddy at Highland Park golf course in St. Paul, Minnesota. I don't recall ever knowing his first name, but just 'Schroeder' seemed right for the character in the script, even before he became the great musician he now is.' From his first appearance at the piano on September 24, 1951, Schroeder has played classical pieces at a virtuoso level, as depicted by Schulz's transcription of sheet music onto the panel (a process he called 'extremely tedious'). The first piece Schroeder played was Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor. Schroeder often played music by Beethoven, his favorite composer, though in earlier strips, he also listened to and played other composers' pieces, particularly Brahms. Schulz once said that Brahms was his own favorite composer and originally planned to depict him as Schroeder's idol, but decided that Beethoven sounded 'funnier'. Every year, Schroeder marks December 16, his hero's birthday, though on at least two occasions Schroeder unintentionally forgot. When Charlie Brown's baseball team is required to have a sponsor to play games, Schroeder's sponsor is Beethoven. Schroeder became such a devotee of Beethoven that, after Lucy smashed his bust of Beethoven, he wordlessly got another one from a closetful of Beethoven busts; it was later revealed that he also had an entire closetful of pianos. Lucy once implies that his idolization of Beethoven is excessive, and asks what he thinks of other classical composers such as Schubert, Brahms, Bach, and Chopin. Schroeder replies, 'They were great too', and continues to play Beethoven. On another occasion, Lucy tells Schroeder, 'Beethoven wasn't so great.' Irritated, Schroeder asks Lucy to explain her comment. Lucy replies, 'You've never seen his face on a bubblegum card, have you?' In an early strip, Schroeder finds he has perfect pitch. Schroeder is usually depicted sitting at his toy piano, able to pound out multi-octave selections of music, despite the fact that such pianos have a very small range (for instance, and as a running joke, the black keys are merely painted onto the white keys). Charlie Brown tried to get him to play a real piano and young Schroeder burst into tears, intimidated by its size.

Reader's Guide

Schroeder's other distinguishing mark as a character is his constant refusal of Lucy's love. Lucy is infatuated with Schroeder, and frequently lounges against his piano while he is playing, usually flirting with him or professing her love. But Beethoven was a lifelong bachelor, and Schroeder feels he must emulate every aspect of his idol's life. In a story arc where she and her family have temporarily moved out of town (also seen in the TV special Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown?), Schroeder becomes frustrated with his music and mutters, disbelievingly, that he misses her, realizing that, despite his animosity toward her, Lucy has unwittingly become his muse and he cannot play without her (he parodies Henry Higgins by saying 'Don't tell me I've grown accustomed to that face!'). Sometimes he gets so annoyed with Lucy that he yanks the piano out from underneath her to get her away from him; on one occasion both Lucy and Frieda lounge on Schroeder's piano until he yanks it from beneath them both after Frieda mistakenly thinks Beethoven is a beverage (she says, 'All right, but I'll just have a small glass'). He does allow Charlie Brown to lounge against the piano, because of their solid friendship. Lucy regularly vexes and perplexes Schroeder with speculations about what their lives would be like if they were married. On one occasion, she rattles off a list of all the luxuries she would need in order to maintain a high-society lifestyle before asking Schroeder whether pianists make much money; when he replies that it depends on how much they practice, she encourages him to keep practicing. Her suggestions that he might insist on playing in cheap bars or that she would make him practice in the basement upset him, and several of her fantasies of their married life seem strangely pessimistic: Lucy has imagined that Schroeder could become a famous concert pianist who breaks both arms skiing, leaving them so destitute that she has to take in laundry to support them; on another occasion she remarked that, if they married and Schroeder failed to earn money, they would sell his piano to buy saucepans. On both occasions, Schroeder got up and walked away from his piano in bewilderment. Schroeder once took Lucy's place in the psychiatric booth when she was unavailable. When Charlie Brown poured out his troubles, Schroeder said simply, 'Go home and listen to a Brahms piano quartet. Five cents, please!' Later, Charlie Brown asked Lucy, 'Just how carefully do you screen these assistants of yours?' On another occasion, Schroeder appeared as a patient. He told Lucy about how Beethoven wrote his great Ninth Symphony, but as he was deaf, he never got to hear it, and every time he thinks about it, it makes him sad. Lucy simply replies with 'Try not to think about it. Five cents, please!' After he leaves, she remarks, 'Some cases are relatively simple.' Schroeder accepted gifts from Lucy on a few occasions. Once, when she gave him a sketch of Beethoven that she drew herself, he was thrilled, but she was then shocked to find he already had a gigantic wall-sized portrait of Beethoven in an elaborate frame hanging in his room. Another time, on Beethoven's birthday, she gave him a picture of Johann Strauss because 'they were all out of Beethoven'. Schroeder also accepted a flower from Lucy, but after he explained that accepting a flower can mean love, or 'just to keep from hurting the other person's feelings', Lucy promptly yanked it back and kicked it away. In reaction to Lucy's constant advances, Schroeder has occasionally humored her. He gave her a valentine after confirming that he did not have to love her to give her one and that just 'barely being able to tolerate her' was fine. Schroeder demonstrates the same fondly teasing tone in the December 14, 1975 Sunday strip, whispering flirtatious comments to her while she pretends to be asleep on his piano. He addresses her as 'pretty girl'.

Did You Know?

• The first piece Schroeder played on the piano was actually 'Chopsticks' or a simple tune in his earliest appearances; the first classical piece he played was Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' in a later strip.
• Schulz originally planned for Brahms to be Schroeder's idol, but decided Beethoven sounded 'fun'.