Alumnus Leo Lousberg wins Utrecht History Award 2014

Leo Lousberg
 

Leo Lousberg, alumnus of the Research Master's programmes in Musicology and in Medieval Studies, is the winner of the Utrecht History Award 2014 (Utrecht Geschiedenisprijs 2014). The prize was given for his essay ‘Verklonken Utrechts erfgoed: een twaalfde-eeuws antifonarium’ ('Utrecht's Vanished Musical Heritage: A Twelfth-Century Antiphonary') which discusses the remnants of a liturgical book containing chants once sung at the former abbey of St Paul's in Utrecht. The music fragments are now kept at the Special Collections of Utrecht University Library.

Lousberg graduated cum laude from the Master programmes Musicology and in Medieval Studies in 2013, making him the first student ever to take both degrees simultaneously. He developed his prize-winning essay out of his Research MA thesis 'Early-Twelfth-Century Utrecht Responsories: A Quest for Musical Style Elements'.

The Utrecht History Prize is awarded biannually by the Vereniging Oud-Utrecht and is intended to stimulate new original research on the history of Utrecht province. The prize includes a monetary award of EUR 2,500 as well as a plaque designed by Theo van de Vathorst and will be handed out at the Utrechts Archief, on 4 June 2014. The prize-winning essay will appear in print in the 2014 issue of Jaarboek Oud-Utrecht, published by the Vereniging.