Florian Schneider
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Florian Schneider-Esleben (7 April 1947Template:Spnd21 April 2020) was a German musician. He is best known as one of the founding members and leaders of the electronic band Kraftwerk, performing his role with the band until his departure in 2008.
Early lifeEdit
Schneider was born on 7 April 1947<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in Öhningen,Template:Efn at the time part of the French occupation zone in southern Germany, near the Bodensee, in what would become the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1952.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His parents were Paul Schneider-Esleben, an architect, and his wife Evamaria (née van Diemen-Meyerhof). Schneider was Jewish on his mother's side;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Paul married the half-Jewish Evamaria in 1946 against the will of his father, who remained a loyal Nazi.<ref name="Weisbeck-2015">Template:Cite journal</ref> Schneider's family moved to Düsseldorf when he was three years old.<ref name="Bussy-1993"/><ref name="Bruchhäuser-1985">Template:Cite book</ref>
CareerEdit
Schneider founded Kraftwerk with Ralf Hütter in 1970.<ref name="Beaumont-Thomas-2020">Template:Cite news</ref> They met in 1968 while studying at the Academy of Arts in Remscheid, then at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, playing improvisational music together in the ensemble Organisation.<ref name="Beaumont-Thomas-2020" /> Before meeting Hütter, Schneider had played with Eberhard Kranemann in the group Pissoff from 1967 to 1968.<ref name="Kranemann-2002">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From 1968 to 1969, Schneider played flute, with Hütter on Hammond organ, Kranemann on bass and Paul Lovens on drums.<ref name="Toop-2016">Template:Cite book</ref>
Originally, Schneider's main instrument was the flute, which he would treat using electronic effects,<ref name="Eede-2020">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> including tape echo, ring modulation, pitch-to-voltage converters, fuzz and wah-wah, allowing him to use his flute as a bass instrument. He also played violin (similarly treated), electric guitar (including slide guitar), and made use of synthesizers (both as a melodic instrument and as a sound processor).<ref name="Beaumont-Thomas-2020" /> Later, he also created his own electronic flute instrument. After the release of Kraftwerk's 1974 album, Autobahn, his use of acoustic instruments diminished.<ref name="Eede-2020" />
Schneider, speaking in 1991, said: "I had studied seriously up to a certain level, then I found it boring; I looked for other things, I found that the flute was too limiting... Soon I bought a microphone, then loudspeakers, then an echo, then a synthesizer. Much later, I threw the flute away; it was a sort of process".<ref name="Bussy-1993">Template:Cite book</ref> Although he had limited keyboard technique, he apparently preferred to trigger the synth sounds through a keyboard (later, developments in sequencing limited the need for hands-on playing).<ref name="Wilson-2017">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Schneider's approach was concentrated on sound design (in an interview in 2005, Hütter called him a "sound fetishist")<ref name="Technopop-2006">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and vocoding/speech-synthesis. One patented implementation of the latter was christened the Robovox, a distinctive feature of the Kraftwerk sound.<ref name="Wilson-2017" /> Hütter said of Schneider's approach:
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In 2015, Schneider and Dan Lacksman, with the help of Uwe Schmidt, released an electronic ode, "Stop Plastic Pollution", for ocean environment conservation as part of the Parley for the Oceans campaign.<ref>
Departure from KraftwerkEdit
Schneider did not perform on any of the dates of the Kraftwerk 2008 world tour, with his last performance with the band being in November 2006 in Spain. His position onstage was subsequently filled by Stefan Pfaffe, an associate working for the band as a video technician.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to a close associate of the group, Schneider left Kraftwerk in November 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 6 January 2009, NME confirmed Schneider's departure.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Reputedly, Schneider's departure followed a dispute with Hütter over a bicycle pump,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Circular reference a rumour which some sources describe as unfounded.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
DeathEdit
Schneider died of cancer on 21 April 2020,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Schneider-Esleben-2020">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> fourteen days after his 73rd birthday, having suffered from the illness for a short time.<ref>
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LegacyEdit
David Bowie titled an instrumental track, "V-2 Schneider", on his album "Heroes" after Schneider,<ref name="Carr-1981">Template:Cite book</ref> and was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk's sound during his "Berlin period" in the late 1970s.<ref name="Eede-2020" />
Shortly after Schneider's death, the bells of the St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht rang out with the tones of the song "Das Model".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On 12 May 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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