Denis Stevens

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denis William Stevens, CBE, (2 March 1922 – 1 April 2004), was a British musicologist specialising in early music, conductor, professor of music and radio producer.

He was born in High Wycombe and attended the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, from where he won a scholarship to read modern languages at Jesus College, Oxford in 1940. From 1942 to 1946, he served as a cryptanalyst in India and Burma. After war he returned to Oxford to complete his degree. From 1949 to 1954, he was a producer at the BBC Third Programme. From 1964 to 1976 he was professor of musicology at Columbia University, New York. In 1995 he was appointed as visiting professor at Goldsmiths College, London, the institution which now houses his extensive Monteverdi library.

He was best known for his work on early baroque Italian composers, especially Claudio Monteverdi, and for his pioneering concerts and recordings with the Accademia Monteverdiana, which he founded.

He was awarded the CBE in 1984.

[edit] External links

• Obituary in The Guardian, 14 April 2004
• Biography on baroquemusic.org