Peter Loewen

Peter Loewen specializes in medieval Latin and vernacular song, particularly as it was used in religious drama and Franciscan preaching. At the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Peter teaches courses on medieval and Renaissance music, and on medievalism, and has served as director of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Program. In 2022, the American Musicology Society granted him the H. Colin Slim Award for his article titled “A Rudder for the Ship of Fools?: Bosch’s Franciscans as Jongleurs of God.” He is the author of Music in Early Franciscan Thought, and co-edited Mary Magdalene in Medieval Culture. Other articles appear in the Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, Grove Music Online, Speculum, Comparative Drama, Franciscan Studies, and The English Province of the Franciscans (1224-C. 1350). His article “Friar William of Herebert’s Carols Reconsidered,” co-authored with Robin Waugh, will appear in Early Music History in 2023. Peter's research has been supported by the DAAD and the Humanities Research Center at Rice University.