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Ross W. Duffin was born in London, Ontario, and attended the University of Western Ontario there. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University where he specialized in the performance practice of early music – basically the manner in which music from earlier centuries was performed. He came to ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ in 1978 to direct the nationally recognized early music program, and retired from that position in 2018. He is now Fynette H. Kulas Professor of Music Emeritus, and ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Distinguished University Professor Emeritus.

Duffin has made a name for himself as a scholar in a wide range of musical repertoires, publishing articles on music from the 13th to the 19th centuries. His two main specializations have been Franco-Flemish music of the 15th century and English music of the 16th and 17th centuries. His edition of DuFay chansons won the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society for work of benefit to both scholars and performers, and his edition of Josquin motets was published in 1998 by Oxford University Press. In 2000 appeared  (Indiana) which he edited with contributions from two dozen of the world’s leading medieval music perfomers and scholars. Among his English music publications are  (A-R Editions, 2011),  (A-R Editions, 2005) and  (W. W. Norton, 2004), a study of all the vocal music from Shakespeare’s plays, which won the inaugural Claude V. Palisca Award from the AMS, and concerning which he was interviewed by Robert Siegel on . His  was published by W. W. Norton in the Fall of 2006 and continues to make waves in music circles worldwide. He also published an introduction and edition,  (Ashgate, 2014). A follow-up to Shakespeare’s Songbook, entitled , was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. His work in identifying the musical sources of Canada’s national anthem was featured in the newspaper in August 2020.

Regarding performance, from 1978 to 2018 he oversaw the historical performance practice program at Case, including the Collegium Musicum, the Early Music Singers, and the Baroque Orchestra. A tenor, he sang with the small chorus attached to , the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, from its inception in 1992 until 2017. He was also founding artistic director of , a professional early music choir established in Cleveland in 2008. Originally a Renaissance wind player, he taught at numerous summer programs in the US and Canada, and three times led symposia for collegium directors at Amherst and Madison Early Music Festivals.

Among the general public of a certain age, Duffin is perhaps best known as the long-time host and producer of Micrologus: Exploring the World of Early Music, which aired on National Public Radio from 1980 to 1998. Some stations have archived programs, which is why people still claim to hear his voice from time to time. Other multimedia projects include several  of staged early music performances, produced for the Case Music Department, and over 250 video performances on  with nearly 1.5 million views from over 200 countries.

An engaging lecturer, Dr. Duffin has spoken at Stanford, Eastman, Oxford, Princeton, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, Yale, Oberlin, Longy, Juilliard, Peabody, USC, the Purcell School in England, Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Academy in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities in Scotland, the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, and the English Broadside Ballad Archive in Santa Barbara, CA, among other places.

Books

• Duffin, Ross W. . New York: W. W. Norton, 2018.
• , edited and with an introduction by Ross W. Duffin. Volume in the series Music Theory in Britain 1500–1700, Jessie Ann Owens, general editor. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2014.
• . New York: W. W. Norton, 2007; paperback, 2008; Polish translation, 2016; Chinese translation, 2018; French translation, 2022.
• . New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. Winner of the inaugural Claude V. Palisca Award from the American Musicological Society (2005).
• , editor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000; paperback 2002.
• Inventory of Musical Iconography, no. 8: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Répertoire Internationale d’Iconographie Musicale, 1991.

Editions

•  Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance 177. Middleton, WI: A‑R Editions, 2023.
• . Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era 234. Middleton, WI: A‑R Editions, 2022.
• . Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance 174. Middleton, WI: A‑R Editions, 2022.
• : Reconstructed from the Eton Choirbook with Lyrics in Latin and English. Collegium Musicum Yale University Series. Madison: A‑R Editions, 2011.
• Iohn Coprario: Fantasia à 5 reconstructed from the Blossom Partbooks. Hazel Grove, UK: VdGS Edition 224, 2008.
• , 18 motets (including 6 reconstructions) and introduction, Madison: A‑R Editions, 2006.
• A Josquin Anthology: 12 motets. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Thomas Tomkins: Five Consort Anthems, co-editor. Teddington, UK: Fretwork Editions, 1994.
• Forty-five Dufay Chansons from Canonici 213: A Performance Edition in Original Notation. Ogni Sorte Editions, 1983. Winner of the Noah Greenberg Award of the American Musicological Society (1980).

Invited and Refereed Articles

•  Music & Letters 103 (2022), 205–25.
•  Early Music 50 (2022), 65–76.
• Christopher R. Wilson and Mervyn Cooke, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music (2022), 356–86.
• Special Issue:  53 (2022), guest editor, including "Introduction," 143–55.
•  Notes and Queries 70 (2022).
•  Early Theatre 24 (2021), 11–61.
•  Musical Quarterly 103 (2020), 9–32). Cited in Brad Wheeler, "O Canada is a copy-and-past composition drawn from Mozart, Wagner and others, musicologist contends," The Globe and Mail (3 August 2020), 1.
•  Early Music History 39 (2020), 115–48.
•  Historical Performance 2 (2019), 55–90.
•  Music & Letters 99 (2018), 159–93.
•  Journal of the Alamire Foundation 9 (2017), 57–83.
•  Oxford Handbooks of Literature: The Age of Shakespeare, ed., R. Malcolm Smuts, 748–63. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
•  Cleveland Museum of Art Magazine (2015), 10–12. Covered in LiveScience, NBC News, Huffington Post, et al.
•  Shakespeare Quarterly 66 (2015), 89–94. Covered in LiveScience, Daily Mail, et al.
•  Early Music America Magazine (November 2014), 44–48.
•  Early Music History 33 (2014), 61–108.
• article and edition for Instruments, Ensembles, and Repertory, 1300-1600: Essays in Honor of Keith Polk, ed. Timothy J. McGee and Stewart Carter, 195–234. Brepols, 2013.
•  The Blackwell Companion to Tudor Literature and Culture 1485–1603, ed. Kent Cartwright, 79–94. Oxford: Blackwell, 2010.
•  Basler Jahrbuch für historiche Musikpraxis 31 (2007; appeared 2009), 69–90.
• online article with multimedia, Music Theory Online 12.3 (2006):
• "Ballads in Shakespeare's World," Noises, Sounds, and Sweet Airs: Music in Early Modern England, ed. Jessie Ann Owens, 32–47. Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library Catalog for Shakespeare and Music Exhibition (June–September 2006).
• online article with multimedia, Digital Case (2006)
• "Catching the Burthen: A New Round of Shakespearean Musical Hunting," Studies in Music 19–20 (2000–2001; appeared 2006), 1–15.
•  Music & Letters 83 (2002), 525–41.
•  Early Music 29 (2001), 164–84.
• premiere article in Historical Performance Online (February 2000)
•  Historic Brass Society Journal 9 (1997), 113–29. Reprinted in Timothy J. McGee, ed., Instruments and their Music in the Middle Ages (Ashgate, 2009).
• "'Cornets & Sagbuts': Some Thoughts on the Early 17th-century English Repertory for Brass,"  ed. Stewart Carter, 47–70. New York: Pendragon Press, 1997.
• "New Light on Jacobean Taste and Practice in Music for Voices and Viols," Proceedings of Le Concert des Voix et des Instruments à la Renaissance, Paris: CNRS (1995), 601–18.
• "Performance Practice: Que me veux tu?" Early Music America Magazine 1 (1995).
•  Music Library Association Notes (journal) 49 (1993), 911–24.
•  Early Music 17 (1989), 397–402, Early Brass Journal (1985). Reprinted in Timothy J. McGee, ed., Instruments and their Music in the Middle Ages (Ashgate, 2009).
•  Speculum (journal) 63 (January 1988), 1–21.
•  The Journal of Musicology 4 (1985–86), 217–26.

Notable Former Students

Many professionals who studied early music with Ross Duffin have earned renown and/or awards. Among others, these include:

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