Harold Charles Schonberg (November 29, 1915 - July 26, 2003) was a American music critic and journalist, most notably for the New York Times between 1960 and 1980. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1971.

A graduate of Brooklyn College and New York University, Schonberg was born and brought up in New York. In 1939, he became a record critic for American Music Lover magazine (later renamed the American Record Guide ). Schonberg joined the New York Times in 1950, before rising to the post of senior music critic a decade later. In this capacity he published daily reviews and longer features on operas and classical music on Sundays.

Schonberg is an extremely influential music writer, and has published a number of books concerning this subject. Particularly noted are The Lives of the Great Composers (1981), which traces the lives of major composers from Monteverdi to present day, and The Great Pianists: From Mozart to the Present (1963).

Schonberg died in Manhattan, New York.