Ward, John Owen.

The English editor John Owen Ward (1919-2000) is best known for his work at New Yorks Oxford University Press and his oversight of The Oxford Companion to Music. Before and after World War II, Ward worked as an antiquarian book and music dealer.

During the war, Ward served as a member of the Royal Artillery. In addition, his language skills allowed him to serve as a translator during prisoner interrogations in Rome, and upon his return to England he was in charge of all intelligence, internal administration, and welfare of the large Italian and German prisoner of war camp at Holsworthy, Devon.

After the war, Ward resumed his activities as a book dealer and became assistant to Percy Scholes (1877-1958), author of the Oxford Companion to Music as well as other books on music for the general reader. Ward earned his BA (1952) and MA (1956) at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, specializing in French and German. In 1957, he was appointed Manager of the Music Department for Oxford University Press in New York, a position he would hold until 1972. During that time he was the sole editor of the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, the Oxford Junior Companion to Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music. He also wrote Careers in Music (1968) along with a number of articles and reviews. In 1972 Ward was made director of serious music for Boosey & Hawkes in New York, a position he would hold until 1979. Also in 1972, Ward was elected first Vice-President of the Music Publishers Association of the United States, of which he would become President in 1974.

Ward was married to Maya Riviere (d. 1989). Riviere was a graduate of Agnes Scott College and earned her doctorate at Oxford as one of the first group of Fulbright scholars. She was Executive Director of the National Council on Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Codes. They had two children, John Dudley and Edith Mary (Snow).

From the guide to the John O. Ward Papers, 1869-2005, 1957-1979, (Special Collections in Performing Arts)

Epithet: editor of books on music

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001026.0x0001d4

Assistant to Oxford musicologist Percy Scholes and then on staff at Boosey-Hawkes publishers.

From the description of Interview conducted by Oliver Daniel, Oct. 11, 1978 [sound recording]. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155861404