Craig Milton Wright (born 1944) is an American music historian. A Professor of Music Emeritus 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 ...

, Wright specializes in

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

. He is best known for his work on the

Burgundian School The Burgundian School was a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now northern and eastern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, centered on the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. The school inaugurated the music of Burgundy. Th ...

Notre-Dame school The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced. The only composers whose names ha ...

and more recently,

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Life and career

Craig Wright studied at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

from 1962 to 1966, and at

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 ...

from 1966 and 1972, where he obtained an M.A. and a Ph.D. in

musicology 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, ...

. Wright completed his Ph.D. in 1972 with a thesis titled ''Music at the Court of Burgundy, 1364-1419''. After a year teaching at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

in Lexington, he moved to Yale in 1973, serving as the chair of the department of music from 1986 to 1992. He currently holds the title of the Henry L. and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Music Emeritus at

. Wright specialises in music history. His early work concentrated on

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and

renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century ''ars nova'', the mus ...

, his most important contribution being Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris (1989). More recently, Wright turned his attention to

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

and the study of genius generally, with the publication of his trade book ''The Hidden Habits of Genius'' (HarperCollins, 2020, at Amazon), which was an Amazon Book of the Year selection for the Nonfiction class. He received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1982. In 2004 he was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and in 2010 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2016 he was awarded Yale's Sewall Prize for excellence in undergraduate teaching and in 2018 the Yale

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

Devane Medal for excellence in teaching and scholarship. On May 15, 2013, Wright was named the first Academic Director of Online Education at Yale University. His Yale online music course Introduction to Classical Music (available at Coursera) had been engaged by 250,000 participants as of August 20, 2024.

Publications

* ''Music at the Court of Burgundy, 1364-1419: A Documentary History'' (Institute of Mediaeval Music, Ltd., Henryville, Ottawa, Binningen, 1979), 271 pp. * ''Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris'', 500-1550 (Cambridge University Press, 1989), 400 pp. * ''Listening to Music'' (West Publications, St. Paul, 1992), 419 pp; 2nd edition (West Publications, St. Paul, 1996), 435 pp; 3rd edition (Wadsworth, 2000), 451 pp.; 5th edition (Wadsworth, 2007), 451 pp.; 7th edition (Schirmer-Cengage, 2014), 488 pp.; 8th edition (Cengage Learning, 2017). * ''The Maze and the Warrior: Symbols in Architecture, Theology and Music'' (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001, paperback edition, 2004), 351 pp. * ''Music in Western Civilization'' (Wadsworth-Schirmer, 2006; media edition, 2010), 871 pp. * ''The Essential Listening to Music'' (Schirmer-Cengage, 2013; 2nd edition, 2016), 282 pp. * ''The Hidden Habits of Genius'' (HarperCollins/Dey Street, 2020).

References

1944 births Living people Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Eastman School of Music alumni American musicologists American music historians American male non-fiction writers Yale University faculty Du Fay scholars Binchois scholars {{Musicologist-stub