Drew Edward Davies, assistant professor in musicology, 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. Sponsored by the Society for American Music, the Award was given on March 1 in San Antonio, Texas at the Society’s annual conference, where Davies also delivered the Plenary presentation.

Davies’ interdisciplinary study considers the currency of Italianate, or gallant, aesthetics in the cathedral culture of eighteenth-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 students last spring.

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. 

Previous winners of Wiley Housewright Award include Charles Garrett, Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Michigan and Sandra Graham, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California-Davis.