John Daverio was Professor of Music, Chairman of the Musicology Department, and Director ad interim of the School of Music at Boston University. A musicologist specializing in German Romanticism, he was the author of two books: Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age" (Oxford, 1997), and Nineteenth-Century Music and the German Romantic Ideology (Schirmer Books, 1993). He was co-editor of a volume of essays entitled The Varieties of Musicology: Essays in Honor of Murray Lefkowitz (Harmonie Park Press, 2000). His articles and reviews appeared in most of the major musicological journals, including Acta Musicologica, The Journal of the American Musicological Society, The Journal of Musicological Research, The Journal of Musicology, 19th Century Music, Music and Letters, Il Saggiatore Musicale, and Beethoven Forum. Other essays and book chapters were published in Schumann and his World (Princeton), Brahms Studies (University of Nebraska Press), German Lieder in the 19th Century (Schirmer), Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music (Schirmer), 19th-Century Piano Music (Garland), and The Cambridge Companion to Beethoven (Cambridge). He was the author of several entries in the second edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, including a comprehensive article on the life and works of Robert Schumann. In addition, he wrote liner notes for compact discs on the Deutsche Grammophon and RCA Red Seal labels, and contributed numerous essays and notes to the program books of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

As a guest lecturer, he spoke at colleges and universities including Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, and Yale, and delivered scholarly papers at conferences in Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Italy, and throughout the U. S. He was also a regular pre-concert speaker for performances of the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony. His awards included the Joseph Silverstein Prize (Tanglewood, 1974); the Alfred Einstein Award (1988), which he received from the American Musicological Society for his research on Schumann's piano music; Choice Magazine's Outstanding Book of the Year Award (1997) for his biography of Schumann; and Boston University's Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching (1997).

He served on the Board of Directors of the American Musicological Society and was President of the Board of Directors of the American Brahms Society and of Alea III. He also served as President of the New England Chapter of the American Musicological Society. In addition to his musicological work, he was active as a violinist, having appeared as a recitalist in Washington DC, New York, and Boston, where he performed with new music groups such as Alea III, NuClassix, Crosscurrents, Composers in Red Sneakers, and Underground Composers.

John Daverio passed away unexpectedly in spring 2003. He will indeed be missed by all.