Friedrich Ludwig Schrader

Friedrich Ludwig Schrader (1744-1816), German actor, manager and dramatist, was born in Schwerin on the 3rd of November 1744. Shortly after his birth, his mother, Sophie Charlotte Schroder (1714-1792), separated from her husband, and joining a theatrical company toured with success in Poland and Russia. Subsequently she married Konrad Ernst Ackermann and appeared with his company in many German cities, finally settling in Hamburg. Young Schroder early showed considerable talent, but his childhood was rendered so unhappy by his stepfather that he ran away from home and learnt the trade of a shoemaker. He rejoined his parents, however, in 1759, and became an actor. In 1764 he appeared with the Ackermann company in Hamburg, playing leading comedy parts; but these he soon exchanged for the tragic roles in which he became famous. These included Hamlet, Lear and Philip in Schiller's Don Carlos. After Ackermann's death in 1771 Schroder and his mother took over the management of the Hamburg theatre, and he began to write plays - largely adaptations from the English, making his first success with the comedy Die Arglistige. In 1780 he left Hamburg, and after a tour with his wife, Anna Christina Hart, a former pupil, accepted an engagement at the Court theatre in Vienna. In 1785 Schroder again took over his Hamburg management and conducted the theatre with marked ability until his retirement in 1798. The Hamburg theatre again falling into decay, the master was once more summoned to assist in its -rehabilitation, and in 1811 he returned to it for one year. He died on the 3rd of September 1816. As an actor Schroder was the first to depart from the stilted style of former tragedians; .as a manager he raised the standard of plays presented and first 'brought Shakespeare before the German public. Schroder's Dramatische Werke, with an introduction by Tieck, were published in four volumes (Berlin, 1831).

See B. Litzmann, Friedrich Ludwig Schroder (Hamburg, 1890-1894); R. Blum in the Allgemeines Theater-Lexikon (1842); and Brunier, Friedrich Ludwig Schroder (Leipzig, 1864).