M. Owen Lee

M. Owen Lee, also known as Father Owen Lee (born 1930, Detroit), is an American classics and music scholar.

Father Lee has been a member of the Basilian Fathers (C.S.B.) since 1947. He is a professor emeritus of classics at the University of Toronto, holder of four honorary degrees, and the author of 18 books on various subjects, such as opera, Richard Wagner and Der Ring des Nibelungen.^[1]

Lee has also been active as a commentator on musical topics. He is especially well known for his many contributions as intermission commentator, pianist, and quiz panelist on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.

Major writings

• Word, Sound, and Image in the Odes of Horace (University of Michigan Press, 1969)
• Fathers and Sons in Virgil's Aeneid (SUNY Press, 1979)
• Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round (Summit Books, 1990)
• First Intermissions (Oxford University Press, 1995)
• The Olive-Tree Bed and Other Quests (University of Toronto Press, 1997)
• Wagner: The Terrible Man and his Truthful Art (University of Toronto Press, 1999)
• A Book of Hours (Continuum Press, 2004)
• The Great Instrumental Works (Amadeus Press, 2005)
• The Best Films of Our Years (Authorhouse, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4259-9620-8
• Athena Sings: Wagner and the Greeks (University of Toronto Press, 2003)
• Wagner and the Wonder of Art: An Introduction to Die Meistersinger (University of Toronto Press, 2007)
• A Season of Opera: From Orpheus to Ariadne (University of Toronto Press, 1998)

References