Ita Beausang
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Ita Beausang | |
|---|---|
 Beausang in 2016 | |
| Born | 18 November 1936 Cork, Ireland |
| Died | 20 November 2024 (aged 88) Dublin, Ireland |
| Other names | Ita Margaret Hogan |
| Occupation | Musicologist |
Ita Margaret Beausang (née Hogan; 18 November 1936 – 20 November 2024) was an Irish musicologist and educator. In 1962 she completed the first PhD thesis in musicology to have been written in Ireland. She specialised in Irish music of the Classical period, and in female Irish composers, in particular Ina Boyle.
Beausang was born in Cork on 18 November 1936. She studied with Aloys Fleischmann at University College Cork, graduating as Bachelor of Music (BMus, 1956) and Master of Arts (MA, 1958) before she completed the first Irish PhD thesis in musicology on "Anglo-Irish Music, 1780–1830" (1962).[1] With some adaptations, this was the basis of her book Anglo-Irish Music, 1780–1830 (Cork University Press, 1966; published under her maiden name Ita Margaret Hogan).
From 1954 to 1960, she taught at the Cork School of Music. After her marriage and move to Dublin in 1960, she worked as a research assistant on the Royal Irish Academy's A New History of Ireland (Oxford University Press), again working with Fleischmann, during 1973–1974. In 1986, she was appointed lecturer in musicianship at the then College of Music (now the TU Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama) and served as acting director, 1995–1996. She retired in 2001 and had since played an active role in fostering music education in Ireland, serving on the advisory group for a feasibility study, undertaken by the organisation Music Network, on "A National System of Local Music Education Services" (2001–2003). She was also a member of the executive committee of the Feis Ceoil (2003–2009).
In 2010, Beausang was awarded Honorary Membership of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI). She was also awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Society for Music Education in Ireland in 2014. In 2022, she was honoured with the Harrison Medal of the Irish Research Council and the SMI.[2]
Beausang died in Dublin on 20 November 2024, at the age of 88.[3]