Herbert Schneider

Herbert Schneider (Wiesbaden, 23 March 1941) is a German musicologist whose work focuses on French opera and popular song from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. He was initially trained in Mainz and Nancy, under Federhofer and Wellek, and earned his doctorate at the University of Mainz with a dissertation on French music theory of the seventeenth century.

After gaining his habilitation in 1978 with a study of Lully, he embarked on an academic career that took him through several German institutions. He was a professor at Mainz (1979-1981), Bayreuth (1981-1984) and Heidelberg (1984-1993), and then taught at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt (1993-1996). At the same time, he was a visiting professor at the Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. In 1996 he took up the chair of musicology at the University of Saarbrücken, and that same year he was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France.

His research revolves around three main strands: French opera, with studies on Lully, Rameau and Auber; and vaudeville and popular song, in a period spanning the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. He is also editor of the series Musikwissenschaftliche Publikationen.

His written output is extensive, encompassing monographs, articles and collective editions. Among his most frequently cited works are the thematic catalogue of Lully's works, published in 1981, and his study of the reception of Lully's operas under the Ancien Régime. He also devoted studies to musical parody in Stravinsky, to the music of the Classical period, and to the relationship between music and the French Revolution, particularly the songs and hymns of that era. His editorial work includes editions of Lully and Marais, and numerous collective volumes on vaudeville and opéra comique.

Schneider is a significant figure in the history of French opera and in the study of popular song in Europe from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. His catalogues and source editions remain standard references for those researching Lully, Rameau or Auber, and his work on vaudeville has helped give popular music a place in academic historiography.