Martin Gotthard Schneider
Martin Gotthard Schneider was a German theologian, church musician, Landeskantor, songwriter, and academic teacher. He is known for prize-winning songs of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied, such as "Danke" and "Ein Schiff, das sich Gemeinde nennt".
Career
Born in Konstanz, Schneider studied Protestant theology and church music in Heidelberg, Tübingen and Basel. From 1958 he worked in Freiburg im Breisgau, first as a vicar at the Ludwigskirche, and from 1960 to 1970 as teacher of religion at the Kepler Gymnasium. During these years he began to build a wide-ranging church music work. He temporarily was a part-time church musician at two churches, the Christuskirche and the Pauluskirche, and became Bezirkskantor in the church district of Freiburg.In 1958, he won a prize for organ improvisation at the International Improvisation Competition. In 1961, he founded the concert choir Heinrich-Schütz-Kantorei. In 1970, Schneider was appointed Kirchenmusikdirektor. From 1970 to 1995, he held the position of church musician at the Ludwigskirche and the Pauluskirche, and from 1975 to 1995 the office of Landeskantor for Southern Baden. From 1963 to 1997, he lectured at the Musikhochschule Freiburg, appointed professor in 1980.