Nigel Cameron Fortune (5 December 1924 – 10 April 2009) was an English

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and political activist. Along with

Thurston Dart Robert Thurston ("Bob") Dart (3 September 1921 – 6 March 1971), was an English musicologist, conductor and keyboard player. Along with Nigel Fortune, Oliver Neighbour and Stanley Sadie he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the post ...

Oliver Neighbour Oliver Wray Neighbour, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (1 April 1923 – 20 January 2015) was a British musicologist and librarian. Along with Thurston Dart, Nigel Fortune and Stanley Sadie he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the po ...

and

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

generation. He played an instrumental part in improving professional musicological standards in England through research initiatives, conferences and scholarly publications. This greatly increased his country's international reputation in the field of music scholarship. Fortune's speciality in musicological research was in 17th-century Italian music and on the lives and works of George Friederich Handel and

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

. He contributed articles to several encyclopaedias and was notably one of the senior editors of ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

''. He also contributed writings or served as an editor to numerous music publications and books. For many years he was the co-editor of the journal ''

Music & Letters ''Music & Letters'' is an academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press with a focus on musicology. The journal sponsors the Music & Letters Trust, twice-yearly cash awards of variable amounts to support research in the music fie ...

''.

Life and career

Born in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, Fortune was the son of an insurance salesman. An only child, he moved with his parents at the age of 10 to the

Handsworth, West Midlands Handsworth () is a suburb and an inner-city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands. Historically in Staffordshire, Handsworth lies just outside Birmingham City Centre and near the town of Smethwick. History The name ''Handsworth'' origina ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. He lived in the same house there for his entire life; notably living next door to the mother of

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

Clare Short Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003. Short was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 t ...

. He served as Short's agent during most of her time as an MP and was also highly active in the education system in Birmingham; serving for many years as a chairman of school governors. After receiving his childhood education at the

Handsworth Grammar School King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, formerly and commonly Handsworth Grammar School, is a grammar school that admits boys from the age of eleven (as well as girls in the sixth form, since September 1997). The school was founded i ...

, Fortune attended the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

from 1947 to 1950 where he earned degrees in music and the Italian language. He went on to earn a PhD from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1954; becoming the second person to be awarded a doctorate for music in the history of the United Kingdom. His doctoral thesis on the development of

monody In music, monody refers to a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melodic line and instrumental accompaniment. Although such music is found in various cultures throughout history, the term is specifically applied to Italian song of ...

in Italy was overseen by

. With Dart he later edited ''John Dowland's Ayres for Four Voices'' (1953–63). One of his other important mentors at Cambridge was Professor Sir Anthony Lewis, then honorary secretary of the

Purcell Society {{primary sources, date=March 2015 The Purcell Society, founded in 1876 (principally by William Hayman Cummings) is an organization dedicated to making the complete musical works of Henry Purcell available. Between 1876 and 1965, scores of all the k ...

and a co-founder of the ''

Musica Britannica ''Musica Britannica'' is a trust founded in 1951, as "an authoritative national collection of British music". One of its co-founders, Anthony Lewis, served as the publication's first chief editor for many years. A programme about the project, wit ...

''. With Lewis he worked on ''The Works of Henry Purcell'', "which played a significant role in establishing the position of the major English composer". From 1956 to 1959 Fortune served as music librarian at Senate House of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He left there to become a lecturer at the University of Birmingham in the fall of 1959. He remained there until his retirement in 1985; at which point he had been working there as a

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

. From 1957 to 1971 he was the

Royal Musical Association The Royal Musical Association (RMA) is a British scholarly society and charity. Founded in 1874, the Association claims to be the second oldest musicological society in the world, after that of the Netherlands. Activities include organizing and sp ...

's secretary and later served as the organisation's vice-president; posts through which he encouraged many young music scholars. During the 1970s and 1980s he worked under

as one of the senior editors and as a writer for ''

'' (1980, 1st edition). From 1980 to 2008 he served as co-editor of the journal ''

''. In the 1960s Fortune and musicologist

Denis Arnold Denis Midgley Arnold (Sheffield, 15 December 1926 – Budapest, 28 April 1986) was a British musicologist. Biography After being employed in the extramural department of Queen's University, Belfast, he became a Lecturer in Music at the Univ ...

founded an important annual conference for graduate students in music in England which established for the first time in that country a community for music scholarship. With Arnold he also collaborated on ''The Monteverdi Companion'' (1968, enlarged and reissued as ''The New Monteverdi Companion'', 1985) and ''The Beethoven Companion'' (1971). He collaborated on several other publications with a variety of scholars, mostly as an editor, including a collection of essays in honour of

Winton Dean Winton Basil Dean (18 March 1916 – 19 December 2013) was an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research on the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of George Frideric Handel, as detailed in his boo ...

in 1987. He contributed several articles to ''

'' from 1975 to 1977 and to the '' New Oxford History of Music'' in 1985. While his scholarly work tended to focus on early music, he was a champion of the music of contemporary composer

John Casken John Arthur Casken (born 15 July 1949) is an English composer. Casken was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. While at Barnsley Grammar School in the 1960s his music teacher played a recording of Berg's Violin Concerto, which h ...

and for many years provided significant financial support to the

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) is a British chamber ensemble based in Birmingham, England specialising in the performance of new and contemporary music. BCMG performs regularly at the CBSO Centre and Symphony Hall in Birmingham, tour ...

. He died in Birmingham at the age of 84 having never married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune, Nigel 1924 births 2009 deaths Academics of the University of London Academics of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Cambridge English musicologists People educated at Handsworth Grammar School People from Northumberland People from Handsworth, West Midlands 20th-century British musicologists