RÖDER, MARTIN:

By: Isidore Singer, A. Porter

German composer and conductor; born in Berlin April 7, 1851; died at Boston, Mass., June 7, 1895; studied at the Königliche Hochschule für Musik in his native city. From 1873 to 1880 Röder was chorus-master at the Teatro dal Verme, Milan, and in 1875 founded the Società del Quartetto Corale. He also conducted opera at various places, as Bologna and Turin, and even in the Azores. From 1880 to 1887 he taught singing in Berlin, for a part of the time at the Scharwenka Conservatorium; for the next five years he was professor at the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin; and in 1892 he went to America to take charge of the vocal department in the New England Conservatory at Boston.

Röder was a very scholarly musician, and his compositions evidence both versatility and marked ability. Among them are: three operas, one of which, entitled "Vera," was performed at the Hamburg Stadttheater in 1881; two symphonic poems, "Azorenfahrt" and "Leonore"; the overture "Attila"; and a trio in F minor. His writings include: "Ueber den Stand der Oeffentlichen Musikpflege in Italien" (in "Sammlung Musikalischer Vorträge"), Leipsic, 1881; "Studi Critici Raccolti," Milan, 1881;and "Dal Taccuino di un Direttore di Orchestra," 1881 (German ed., "Aus dem Tagebuch eines Wandernden Kapellmeisters," Leipsic, 1882). Röder also contributed articles to the "Gazzetta Musicale" under the pseudonym "Raro Miedtner."

S. A. P.