Biography

In 1956, the Budapest String Quartet persuaded Schneider to rejoin them. They had tried two other second violinists (Ortenberg and Gorodetzky), neither of them able to reach Schneider's high standards, and Roismann had refused to continue with anyone else. Schneider had remained in close contact with the quartet and he stood in for Ortenberg or Gorodetzky when they were ill. Now it was agreed the quartet would operate part-time with Schneider and he would continue his independent career. They finally disbanded in 1967.

Schneider played with a number of other chamber groups, among them his own string group, and the Brandenburg Ensemble.

"The longest amount of time I work with an orchestra is two weeks," he once told the Los Angeles Times. "I never conduct more than two weeks because after two weeks, it's all downhill with the musicians.".

Schneider felt the need to develop himself as an independent musician, so he left the Budapest String quartet in 1944, full of energy and ideas.

Schneider was a violinist, conductor and educator.