Dr Nigel Fortune, prominent for many years as a lecturer in the Music Department at Birmingham University, died at his home in Handsworth Wood on Good Friday after a long illness.

A pupil of Handsworth Grammar School, he read music and Italian at Birmingham University. After taking his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950 he undertook research at Cambridge University, where he took a PhD in 1954, only the second PhD in music to be awarded in this country at that stage.

From 1956 to 1959 he was music librarian of London University, and in 1959 he was appointed lecturer in music (subsequently Reader in music) at Birmingham University. He retired in 1985.

As someone privileged to study under Dr Fortune as my first-year tutor at the university in 1966, I can testify to the enormous breadth of his knowledge - he was a genuine musical polymath and had a phenomenal memory for detail - and to his courtesy and respect for the work of his colleagues. He had his finger on the pulse of everything that was going on in the musical world and beyond, taking a huge interest in current affairs and appreciating the joys of gentle gossip.

Though he was awesomely active in editorial work, for books, for professional journals and for new performing editions of his beloved Italian and English vocal music of the 17th century, he also found time to be deeply involved in the political life of Birmingham, the city he loved so much.

He took his duties as a school governor very seriously, with Handsworth Grammar and Broadway schools among those which benefited from his commitment, and became a close colleague of Clare Short. He assisted the Labour MP at elections and spent much time working with her at her regular advice bureaux.

Details of Dr Fortune’s funeral have yet to be released.