James Webster is a musicologist, specializing in the music of Joseph Haydn and other composers of the classical era.
His professional position is as the Goldwin Smith Professor of Music at Cornell University.
He has published several books in his field, including a massive study of Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony and (with Georg Feder) the Haydn article in the current edition of the New Grove, spun off as a separate book.
His website lists the following areas of specialization (links to articles in this encyclopedia are added): Webster's work is notable for his willingness to sift through and assess conflicting sources of historical evidence.
Webster is the dedicatee of a festschrift volume published 2014 by Cambridge University Press, with contributions by colleagues including Elaine Sisman, Neal Zaslaw, and Lewis Lockwood; see References below.