[1] Born in Eisleben, Schneider studied musicology at the University of Leipzig with Hermann Kretzschmar and Hugo Riemann and composition with Salomon Jadassohn.
Furthermore he taught music history and score playing at the Staatliche Hochschule für Theater und Musik Halle [de] founded in 1947.
Schneider was co-editor of the Archiv für Musikwissenschaft (1918–1927), the Händel-Jahrbuch (1955–1967), the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe (from 1955) as well as the series Musikgeschichte in Bildern [de] (from 1961).
He dealt almost exclusively with the history of music from the late 16th to the middle of the 18th century, in particular with performance practice and source material.
Schneider published important studies on Johann Sebastian Bach's biography and the sources of his works and helped to rehabilitate Georg Philipp Telemann.