Michael Schäffer (11 November 1937 – 7 September 1978) was a German lutenist.

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He was a pioneer in the rediscovery of French Baroque lute works and concertized widely as soloist and with chamber ensembles.

Schäffer was born in Cologne. He received a musical education, as a violinist and violist, with his father Kurt Schäffer at the Robert Schumann Hochschule.[1] His work as a guitarist generated an interest in the lute.[1] His formal education took place at Staatliche Musikhochschule in Cologne where he majored in lute.[1] His first academic appointment began in 1963 at Bergische Musikschule [de] in Wuppertal.[1] In 1966 he was an original faculty member, lecturing on the lute, at the newly-created Institute for Early music at Rheinische Musikschule [de].[1] Schäffer was one of the first to abandon "guitar technique" on the lute: he experimented with traditional lute techniques, and their expressive possibilities and implications: e.g. hand positioning, thumb-index alternation, etc.[2]

He taught at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.

References

External links

Recordings

• French Baroque Lute Suites, iss. Nov 1997; Sean; CD release by Sony; Review^{[permanent dead link]}
• Josef Haydn: Music for Lute and Strings (Michael Schäffer, Eva Nagora, Franz Beyer, Thomas Blees) LP; compiled on the CD: Music For Lute, Guitar, And Mandolin, VOX ASIN B001J4ZORA
• French Lute Music; Turnabout Records, 1968

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