Awarding a studious retirement

For many people, the word retirement conjures up an image of a
poolside house in Palm Springs where a game of tennis or bridge is
the most important activity on the daily agenda.

But for Robert Stevenson, who has just won the Constantine
Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award for work done since his
retirement from UCLA faculty in 1989, retirement has meant
continuing to be active in the music world and being heralded as
the leading living authority on Iberian and Latin American music
from the Renaissance to today.

“There’s a hymn that begins, “˜Work, for the
night is coming when man works no more,’ and I’ve
always taken that as a useful motto,” Stevenson said.

His published works since his retirement in 1989 take up an
entire column of fine print in the Diccionario de la Música
Epañola, which is more than what most scholars do in a
lifetime. In addition, the three honorary degrees he has received
from other universities, as well as his position as an adjunct at
the Catholic University in Washington, D. C., make him more than
just a typical emeriti.

“He’s basically done a career’s worth of work
since he’s retired,” assistant professor Elisabeth Le
Guin said.

The nearly 88-year-old Stevenson can be seen almost every day
dressed in a suit and tie and seated amongst stacks of books in the
same spot at the music library. And while he often appears to be
preoccupied with his research, Stevenson is approachable and eager
to answer questions and talk with students.

Despite the fact that he no longer lectures, he continues to be
active in students’ educations by having funded a lecture
series, financially supporting graduate students, and having
overseen three dissertations.

He even still lives in student housing, which he has done since
1973, because, he says, he loves to be around young people.

While Stevenson has received a considerable amount of
recognition in Spanish-speaking countries and on the East Coast, Le
Guin believes that Stevenson is deserving of more respect in his
home state of California.

“He’s been here for years and comes in every day,
but he’s never gotten recognition. It was becoming an
embarrassment and I hope this (award) goes in some direction to
correct that,” Le Guin said.

Stevenson is flattered and pleased to receive this award,
especially because it gives respect to the field of musicology as a
whole.

“I feel particularly fortunate being given this award
because it’s given for work done in all fields and music is
generally not considered to be a field as important as ones like
chemistry and physics,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson was born in New Mexico and raised in Texas, so the
fact that he has been surrounded by Spanish and English his whole
life does not make his interest in Spanish and Latin American music
surprising. He has seen all 18 of the students whose doctorate
degrees he superintended placed in university and institutional
positions. Stevenson has also endeavored throughout his career to
see that women are given more importance in the music world
““ from being the first to teach a class about women in
music at UCLA, as well as just publishing an article on the female
Latin American pianist and composer Teresa Carreños.

Stevenson has a photographic memory, which gives him the much
envied ability to retain virtually everything that he reads.

“You can ask him an obscure question about Spanish
Cathedral music in the 16th century and he doesn’t have to
look it up ““ it’s all there,” Le Guin said.

For most students, studying for finals is more than enough to
cause fatigue and leave them longing for the next break from
school. But Stevenson’s life of continual research and work
has never been a burden to him.

“I’ve always looked upon it as a pleasure, not
work,” Stevenson said. “My brother said to me,
“˜Robert, your whole life has been a
vacation.'”