THIS ISSUE OF LAMR IS DEDICATED TO Robert Stevenson (1916- 2012): In Memoriam

Robert Murrell Stevenson, one of the leading music scholars of the twentieth century and a preeminent figure in Iberian and Latin American research, died of natural causes on December 22, 2012, in Santa Monica, California. A longtime professor of musicology at UCLA, as well as an adjunct professor at Catholic University of America, he was an extraordinarily prolific author of books, articles, editions, reference entries, and reviews, as well as the founder and editor of the groundbreaking journal Inter-American Music Review. His scholarly investigations ranged over an impressively wide array of subjects, particularly Spain and Latin America before 1800, but also traditional, indigenous, and popular musics of the Americas and the contributions of women composers and performers.

Born on July 3, 1916, in Melrose, New Mexico, Stevenson spent his childhood and grew to maturity in El Paso, Texas, earning his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas there. He subsequently earned degrees at Juilliard, Yale, Eastman, Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, and studies in composition, piano, and musicology with Stravinsky, Schnabel, Schrade, and Hanson, among others. During World War II he served as army captain and chaplain for a unit of African American armed forces, and he received an army commendation. He began teaching at UCLA in 1949 and soon established his scholarly reputation with seminal books such as Music in Mexico (1952) and Music in Peru (1959 and 1960), followed by a trilogy of classics: Spanish Music in the Age of Columbus (1960), Spanish Cathedral Music of the Golden Age (1961), and Music in Aztec and Inca Territory (1968). In all, he authored twenty-nine books and hundreds of scholarly journal, dictionary, and encyclopedia articles. In 1978 Stevenson launched his own journal, Inter-American Music Review. Unique in conception as well as in execution, it became a major venue for leading research on music of all the Americas. An accomplished composer and pianist, Stevenson wrote a wide range of pieces for piano, chamber groups, choir, and symphony orchestra. He was the recipient of Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Ford Foundation fellowships and grants, and he was an honorary member of several scholarly societies, including the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) and the American Musicological Society (AMS). For SEM he established the Robert Stevenson Prize, awarded to composers who are ethnomusicologists, and for AMS he established an award for scholars of Iberia or Latin America. He also founded the annual Robert Stevenson Lectures in the UCLA Department of Musicology. In 1985 he was awarded the Organization of American States' Gabriela Mistral Prize, and in 2004 he was nominated for and received the Constantine Panunzio Award for scholars who maintain high levels of research after retirement from the University of California system. Stevenson's research archive is maintained at the Conservatorio Real de Madrid.

Stevenson was an exceptional mentor as well as researcher, and he guided twenty-five dissertations at UCLA and Catholic University. Those who were fortunate enough to do graduate research under his direction felt deeply inspired not only by his erudition and productivity, by the scope and depth of his investigations, but also by his passionate commitment to preserving and promoting a vast heritage of great music. He played a crucial role in moving the Americas to a position of central importance in music scholarship. Though he will be sorely missed by innumerable friends, admirers, colleagues, and students, his seminal work will continue to serve as a shining and spiritual beacon for music scholars everywhere.