Musicologist Davies Receives 2006 Wiley Housewright Award

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Drew Edward Davies, assistant professor of musicology in the School of Music, has received the 2006 Wiley Housewright Dissertation Award for his work "The Italianized Frontier: Music at Durango Cathedral, 'Español' Culture, and the Aesthetics of Devotion in Eighteenth-Century New Spain."

Davies' interdisciplinary study considers the currency of Italianate, or galant, aesthetics in the cathedral culture of 18th century Mexico. It elaborates on literally hundreds of musical sources previously unknown to music scholarship, some of which were premiered at a concert by Northwestern University students in spring 2007.

The Wiley Housewright Dissertation Award is designed to recognize a single dissertation on American music for its exceptional depth, clarity, significance and overall contribution to the field. The award defines "American" as all of North America, including Central America and the Caribbean, and aspects of its cultures elsewhere in the world. Davies' award represents the first time a Latin American topic has been so recognized.

Davies is a specialist in 17th and 18th century music of Latin America and Iberia. His published articles and reviews appear in the journals "Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia" and "Eighteenth-Century Music," and the essay collection "The Courtesan's Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives," edited by Martha Feldman and Bonnie Gordon for Oxford University Press (2006). He is preparing to publish a monograph entitled "Mexico Galante: Music and Devotion in Eighteenth-Century New Spain," a critical edition of the musical works of Santiago Billoni, and a catalog of the music archive of Durango Cathedral.

Davies also was a recent presenter at academic conferences in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Spain, Japan and Cuba. He is regional coordinator for the "Musicat" seminar at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His research interests include Spanish colonial arts and culture, 1521-1821; medieval music; post-Tridentine liturgical polyphony; and 20th century English art song.

Davies joined the School of Music faculty in fall 2005.