Michael Schäffer (11 November 1937 – 7 September 1978) was a German lutenist . He was a pioneer in the rediscovery of French Baroque lute works and concertized widely as soloist and with chamber ensembles. Schäffer was born in Cologne . He received a musical education, as a violinist and violist, with his father Kurt Schäffer. His avocation, the guitar, led him to the lute. Schäffer was one of the first to abandon "guitar technique" on the lute: he experimented with traditional lute techniques, and their expressive possibilities and implications: eg hand positioning, thumb-index alternation, etc. He taught at the Hochschule für Musik Köln .