Schroeder (Peanuts) once mortified when he forgot Beethoven's birthday. When Charlie Brown's baseball team is required to have a sponsor to play games, Schroeder's sponsor is Beethoven. In early strips, Schroeder frequently plays the music of other composers. Once, Lucy implies that his idolization of Beethoven is excessive, and she asks him what he thinks of other classical composers such as Schubert, Brahms, Bach, and Chopin. Schroeder simply replies, "They were great too," and continues to play Beethoven. On another occasion, Lucy remarks to Schroeder "Beethoven wasn't so great." Irritated, Schroeder asks Lucy to explain her comment. Lucy replies, "You've never seen
Schroeder (Peanuts) and Schroeder feels he must emulate every aspect of his idol's life, even if he reciprocates Lucy's feelings. In a story arc where she and the rest of her family have 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 Schroeder's 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