Stevens, John (Edgar)
Stevens, John (Edgar)
Stevens, John (Edgar), distinguished English musicologist; b. London, Oct. 8, 1921. He studied classics (1940–41) and English (B.A., 1948) at Magdalene Coll., Cambridge; then pursued training with Dart at the Univ. there (Ph.D., 1953, with the diss. Early Tudor Song Books); served on the univ. faculty as a teacher of English (1952–74), reader in English and music history (1974–78), and prof. of medieval and Renaissance English (from 1978). He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1980. An erudite scholar, he contributed greatly to the understanding of music from the medieval and Renaissance periods. In addition to his books and articles, he ed. works for the Musica Britannica series. His Writings include Music and Poetry in the Early Tudor Court (London, 1961; second ed., rev., 1979), Medieval Romance (London, 1973), and Words and Music in the Middle Ages (London, 1986).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire