David Greer, who has died aged 80, took a profound scholarly interest in English song of the 16th and 17th centuries. His major legacy in this area of scholarship can be measured by two volumes of Collected Lutenist Partsongs Vols I and II for Musica Britannica, published in 1987 and 1989, and the new edition of John Dowland’s Ayres for Four Voices for Musica Britannica, published in 2000.
He was never happier than when working with old manuscripts and printed sources; he developed an extensive knowledge of these sources, their provenances and their locations. His curiosity in the Hamilton Harty archive in Belfast (left by the composer to the university) gave rise to an edited book of essays, Hamilton Harty: His Life and Music (1978). David also made contributions to the Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture and to the volume A Numerous and Fashionable Audience (1997), about the short but notable career of the singer Elsie Swinton.
David was born in Croydon, south London, the son of Barbara (nee Avery) and William Greer. His parents were Salvationists, and through the Salvation Army David gained a proficiency on numerous brass instruments including the tenor horn before progressing to the French horn (which he later played in professional orchestras in Birmingham and Ulster).
From 1947 until 1952 he attended the Reading Blue Coat school before moving to Dulwich College in London for three years in 1952. There he was a close friend of the composer Anthony Payne. After two years of national service, he gained a place at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he worked with Frederick Sternfeld (his mentor), James Dalton and Bernard Rose. After achieving a first-class honours degree in music, and doing postdoctoral teaching and research under Sternfeld, he moved to Birmingham as a music lecturer in 1962.
He occupied the Hamilton Harty chair of music at Queen’s University Belfast from 1972 until 1984, after which he succeeded Denis Matthews as professor of music at Newcastle University. In 1986 he took the chair of music at Durham University, where he was head of department for nine years (and my academic colleague).
In the years of his retirement he returned to his first love, music in the age of Shakespeare, and published Manuscript Inscriptions in Early English Printed Music (2015). Such was the excellence and originality of this study that he was awarded the 2016 CB Oldman prize by the International Association of Music Libraries.
He married Patricia Regan in 1961; they had three children, Alistair, Nigel and Joanna. Patricia died in 1999. In 2002 he married Harriet Marling. She and his children survive him.
