Ludwig Finscher (14 March 1930 – 30 June 2020) was a German musicologist. He was a professor of music history at the University of Heidelberg from 1981 to 1995 and editor of the encyclopedia "Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart". He was born in Kassel, Germany. From 1955 to 1960, he worked as a freelance journalist and music critic in Göttingen. He became an assistant to Walter Wiora in 1960, first at the University of Kiel and from 1965 at the University of Saarbrücken.