David Richard Widdess,
FBA (born 8 June 1951) is a musicologist and academic. Since 2005, he has been Professor of Musicology at the
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Career
Born on 8 June 1951, David Richard Widdess completed his
undergraduate studies at
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating in 1972 with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in music. The following year, he received the
Bachelor of Music degree from the
University of Cambridge, before earning a
Master of Arts degree in South-East Asian
area studies at the
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS), in 1974. He returned to Cambridge to carry out his doctoral studies under the supervision of
Laurence Picken (1974–79); his
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
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* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
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was awarded in 1981 for his
thesis "Early Indian musical forms: a study of notated examples from sources c. 600–1250". From 1977 to 1979, he was a research fellow at
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
, and remained there as Director of Music Studies (from 1978 to 1982). In 1979, he was appointed to a lectureship in Indian music at SOAS; Widdess was promoted to a senior lectureship in
ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
in 1992, and then to a
readership six years later. He was head of the Department of Music at SOAS from 1999 to 2002, and since 2005 has been Professor Musicology at the institution. He was also co-editor of the ''
British Journal of Ethnomusicology'' from 1992 to 1997.
Early Indian musical forms : a study of notated examples from sources c. 600–1250
''EthOS'' (British Library). Retrieved 5 July 2018.
According to his British Academy profile, Widdess's research focuses on the "musicology of South Asia, including history, theory, analysis and social context of music in North India and Nepal", as well as "music and religion in South Asia; analysis of world music; ndmusic cognition, performance and meaning in oral traditions".["Professor Richard Widdess"](_blank)
''British Academy''. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
Awards and honours
In 2006, Widdess received the Music Forum (Mumbai) Award for contributions to Indian Music. In 2015, Widdess was elected a Fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
, the United Kingdom's national academy for humanities and social sciences.
Selected publications
* (Co-editor with R. F. Wolpert) ''Music and Tradition: Essays on Asian and Other Musics Presented to Laurence Picken'' (Cambridge University Press, 1981).
* (Editor) ''Musica Asiatica'', vol. 5 (Cambridge University Press, 1988).
* ''The Rāgas of Early Indian Music: Modes, Melodies and Musical Notations from the Gupta period to c. 1250'' (Clarendon Press, 1995).
* (Co-author with Ritwik Sanyal) ''Dhrupad: Tradition and Performance in Indian Music'' (Ashgate, 2004).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Widdess, Richard
Living people
1951 births
Fellows of the British Academy