Theodor Gaude (born June 3, 1782, in Wesel; died 1835 in Hamburg) was a German guitarist, guitar teacher, and composer.
Biographical information about Theodor Gaude is very scarce: It is known that he was born in Wesel and had begun an apprenticeship as a merchant. He does not appear to have completed this apprenticeship. He took guitar lessons and lived for a time in Paris, where—according to Josef Zuth—he matured “into a master.” In 1914, he embarked on a concert tour that was to take him from Germany to Russia. However, he fell ill in Hamburg and, after his recovery, settled there as a guitarist, guitar teacher, and composer.
Gaude left behind more than 80 guitar compositions, which he published through the music publishers Böhme and Cranz in Hamburg, Peters in Leipzig, Simrock in Bonn, and André in Offenbach. His compositions include works for solo guitar, duets for two guitars, for guitar and flute or guitar and voice, as well as trios for guitar and string instruments. A review of his works described Theodor Gaude as “a man of extraordinary ingenuity and knowledge of the instrument.”
