| Synopsis: |
In an age of hyper-specialization, Robert M. Stevenson reminds us of a time when an exceptional musician could easily work in various disciplines without being accused of dilettantism. Over his long career he has become an exceptional pianist, composer, teacher, and scholar. Few others can boast the sheer volume and groundbreaking nature of his scholarship, but virtually no one can also claim to have done this while producing compositions that were performed by major musical organizations such as the Philadelphia Orchestra. His place in American musical history is secure and considerable. The time is well past for volume of work to be published in his honor. This collection of essays honors the subject that may be the most visible of his long career, the sacred music of Iberian and Latin American Renaissance. Stevenson's Spanish Cathedral Music and Music in the Age of Columbus, published over forty years ago, remain the standard surveys of these subjects. The collection features contributions by a group of scholars who feel an immense debt of gratitude for his foundational work in this area, and it brings together studies of musical and archival sources, performance practices, institutional traditions, chant traditions, and compositional approaches related to music produced in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America during the years 1480-1650, a time of exceedingly rich artistic output. |