Born in Berlin, Schünemann, the son of a rector, was awarded a doctorate after studying music in 1907 with his dissertation on the history of conducting.
[1] As a collaborator of Leo Kestenberg he was concerned with the reorganization of schools and private music education.
After the takeover by Nazism he was "granted leave" as director of the university after denunciations, but immediately afterwards became head of the state collection of musical instruments.
[2] After he had presented a "de-jewed" new translation of Mozart's opera Le nozze di Figaro in 1940,[3] he became deputy chairman of the Reichsstelle für Musikbearbeitungen, a subdivision of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.
The opera was performed with his text in 1961 in the Deutsche Oper Berlin by Carl Ebert with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Grümmer and Josef Greindl.