PhD, Brandeis University

Derek R. Strykowski is an associate teaching professor in the Department of Music and a faculty fellow in the UB Honors College. Holding degrees in both musicology and composition from Brandeis University, he focuses his research and teaching on the field of music history. Strykowski offers instruction within the music program at both the graduate and undergraduate levels while also introducing non-majors to the department through “Understanding Music,” “Music and Money,” and other Pathways courses within the UB Curriculum. In addition to his work with graduate teaching and research assistants, he proudly serves as a faculty mentor to students at the UB Honors College.

As a scholar, Strykowski investigates the artistic impact of the music publishing business upon the work of nineteenth-century concert composers in both Europe and, increasingly, the United States. His current research examines the life and work of groundbreaking American music publisher Arthur P. Schmidt. Digital projects include Musical Geographies of Boston, 1865–1915, the recipient of a 2023 research grant from the UB Digital Scholarship Studio and Network. He also maintains a second program of research involving the formal empirical analysis of sixteenth-century polyphony.

“Hearing the Interrogative in the Cadences of Sigismondo d’India: A Quantitative Analysis of the Polyphonic Madrigals.” Intégral: The Journal of Applied Musical Thought 36 (June 2023): 103–128. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/integral/36-2023/strykowski/

“The Negotiation of Nineteenth-Century Style: A Case Study in Composer–Publisher Relations.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 49, no. 2 (January 2019) backdated to 2018: 217–242. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26844645

“The Business of Composition: Measuring Economic Relationships at Breitkopf & Härtel, 1798–1838.” Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, vol. 74, no. 4 (June 2018): 574–602. https://doi.org/10.1353/not.2018.0034

“Text Painting, or Coincidence? Treatment of Height-Related Imagery in the Madrigals of Luca Marenzio.” Empirical Musicology Review, vol. 11, no. 2 (January 2017) backdated to 2016: 109–119. https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v11i2.4903

“The Diegetic Music of Berg’s Lulu: When Opera and Serialism Collide.” Journal of Musicological Research, vol. 35, no. 1 (January 2016): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411896.2015.1082066

Musical Geographies of Boston, 1865–1915. Data mapping project (prototype, 2023). https://dstrykowski.shinyapps.io/boston/

“Arthur P. Schmidt & Company: A Walking Tour of Old Boston.” ArcGIS StoryMap (2023). https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/09d7987f3d2f41ed9b1112cdf728130b

A Visual Guide to Some Nineteenth-Century Composers and Their Publishers. Data visualization project (2020). https://dstrykowski.shinyapps.io/visualguide/

“Prices of Music at Breitkopf & Härtel: Publication Lists from the Intelligenz-blatt zur Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung.” Data set with introduction (2018). https://dstrykowski.shinyapps.io/pricesofmusic/