He joined the faculty of Yale in 1928 and was Battell Professor of Music Theory from 1947 to 1960.
His style, according to H. Wiley Hitchcock, "developed to a lucid polyphony, despite closely woven textures, with frequent use of modal themes, sometimes of folktunes.
"[1] He composed for a wide range of vocal and instrumental arrangements, sometimes calling for unexpected combinations.
[2] Among the materials Donovan used in his work were the poetry of Carl Sandburg and Frances Fenton Bernard Park, Elizabethan lyrics, and American folk hymns.
[1][2] Donovan won the BMI Publication Award in 1945 for his Design for Radio.