Schroeder is a fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz.

He is distinguished by his prodigious skill at playing the toy piano, as well as by his love of classical music in general and the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in particular.

He is also the object of the unrequited infatuation of Lucy Van Pelt, who constantly leans on Schroeder's piano.

Charlie Brown, Frieda, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy are occasionally depicted leaning on Schroeder's piano.

In one game, when Frieda asked Schroeder "Wouldn't you like just once to see Charlie Brown hit that ball?

He initially had no notable characteristics, but soon Schulz had the idea to incorporate his daughter Meredith's toy piano into the strip, and decided to give it to the newest character.

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").

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".

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.

Charlie Brown tried to get him to play a real piano and young Schroeder burst into tears, intimidated by its size.

Peppermint Patty once called Schroeder a "miniature Leonard Bernstein" after she heard him whistling a classical piece during a ball game shortly after she was introduced to the strip and briefly took over management of the team.

Lucy is infatuated with Schroeder, and frequently lounges against his piano while he is playing, usually flirting with him or professing her love.

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!").

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.

Most times he is willing to answer her questions, but unfortunately they usually turn into themes that annoy him, such as the idea of them getting married and ignorant comments about music.

When Charlie Brown poured out his troubles, Schroeder said simply, "Go home and listen to a Brahms piano quartet.

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.

[5] 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.

[7] Schroeder is second only to Linus as a close friend of Charlie Brown, though in a strip from the mid-1950s they wrangled over whether Beethoven or Davy Crockett was greater.

Schroeder chastises Violet for disregarding Charlie Brown's feelings and her selfish motive of relieving her guilt.

Charlie Brown tells Violet not to listen to him and accepts the card, while expressing appreciation for Schroeder's gesture.

Frieda once thought Beethoven was some kind of drink, causing Schroeder to pull the piano out from under both her and Lucy.

Schroeder first plays it in the style of a conventional grand piano, then manages to generate the warm tones of a Hammond organ.

Snoopy, for example, once decorated a Christmas tree using a handful of them and has on at least one occasion been seen dancing atop the musical staff containing them.

Also, twice while Schroeder was playing and the notes were above him, Lucy's head appeared between the treble and bass staffs, causing him to stop and say, "Don't tell me I've grown accustomed to that face!"