Miloš Milorad Velimirović (December 10, 1922 – April 18, 2008) was an American
musicologist
Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
. Twice a recipient of a
Fulbright fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
, he was considered an international expert in the areas of
Byzantine music
Byzantine music () originally consisted of the songs and hymns composed for the courtly and religious ceremonial of the Byzantine Empire and continued, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, in the traditions of the sung Byzantine chant of East ...
, the history of
Slavonic music, and the history of
Italian opera
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ope ...
in the 18th century.
Early life
Velimirović was born in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
, Serbia,
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
to Milorad and Desanka (Jovanović) Velimirović, a physician and a piano teacher respectively. In his boyhood in Serbia, he learned to play the violin and piano. He learnt several languages, and had a lifelong passion for music. During his adolescent years he studied
music history
Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...
and
music theory
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
. Velimirović began a program of studies in music history at the
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...
, also studying violin and piano at the conservatory. In 1941, with the invasion of the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
, the university was closed, and Velimirović's studies there were suspended until after
the war.
Fieldwork in Yugoslavia
From 1950 to 1951, Velimirović worked with
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
professor
Albert Lord
Albert Bates Lord (15 September 1912 – 29 July 1991) was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard, Harvard University who carried on Milman Parry's research on epic poetry after Parry's death.
Early life
Lord was born in Bos ...
in collecting oral epic songs from singers in Yugoslavia. This fieldwork was a follow-up trip to the work done by another Harvard professor of classics,
Milman Parry
Milman Parry (June 23, 1902 – December 3, 1935) was an American Classicist whose theories on the origin of Homer's works have revolutionized Homeric studies to such a fundamental degree that he has been described as the " Darwin of Homeri ...
, from 1933 to 1935. Lord himself had assisted Parry in the final stages of that trip. The material gathered in this trip is discussed most prominently in Lord's 1960 book, ''
The Singer of Tales.'' Albert and Mary Lou Lord sponsored Velimirović's immigration to the United States in 1952, to enter the graduate studies program at Harvard. Velimirović received a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
(in 1953) and a
doctoral degree
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
(in 1957) from Harvard.
Academic career
Velimirović was a
Junior Fellow The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intellect ...
in
Byzantine Studies
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. ...
at
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and gardens of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife ...
for the 1955/56 and 1956/57
academic year
An academic year, or school year, is a period that schools, colleges and university, universities use to measure the duration of studies for a given educational level. Academic years are often divided into academic terms. Students attend classe ...
s.
From 1957 to 1969, he taught at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. During that time, he was awarded a
Fulbright fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
for research in Greece in the 1963/64 academic year. Beginning in 1969, until 1973, Velimirović was on the faculty of the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
. He taught at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
from 1973 to 1993, serving as chair of the McIntire Department of Music from 1974 to 1978. In 1985, he was awarded a second Fulbright fellowship, to teach abroad in Yugoslavia. Velimirović retired as a Professor
Emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
In some c ...
in 1993. After retirement, he continued to reside in Virginia, until his death in 2008, at the age of 85, in
Bridgewater.
Recognition
In 2003, Velimirović was invited to a
symposium
In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...
at the
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...
in Moscow. As a follow-up to this event, his Russian colleagues presented him with a
festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
volume entitled "Византия и Восточная Европа : литургические и музыкальные связи : к 80-летию доктора Милоша Велимировича" (Byzantium and Eastern Europe: Liturgical and Musical Links – In Honor of the 80th Birthday of Dr. Miloš Velimirović). The volume was originally written in Russian and included contributions by authors from nine countries. On October 18, 2004, the
National and Capodistrian University of Athens awarded an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
to Velimirović.
Selected works
A more detailed bibliography of Velimirović's works through about 1993 is available in a family history ''Velimirovići'' by Gojko Antić. Included in the bibliography are entries documenting translations of Velimirović's writings, primarily into Greek, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian.
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References
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* Александар Васић (Aleksandar Vasic). "Преминуо Милош Велимировић". ''Политика'' (Policy), 20. V 2008, Year CV, No. 33954, p. 16. Same in: ''Ton'', Belgrade, July 2008, Year XII, No. 41, p. 2.
* Весна Пено (Vesna Peno). "Милош Велимировић (1922–2008)" (Miloš Velimirović). ''Музикологија'' (Musicologia), Belgrade 2008, No. 8, pp. 329–334.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velimirovic, Milos
Yugoslav emigrants to the United States
American ethnomusicologists
Slavists
University of Belgrade alumni
Harvard University alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
University of Virginia faculty
American people of Serbian descent
Musicians from Belgrade
1922 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American musicologists