About
An award-winning scholar of Baroque music and musical form, Christopher Brody is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Louisville. His writings on the music of J. S. Bach have appeared in Music Theory Spectrum, BACH: The Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, and Music Theory Online. He has also written about form in tonal music, Schenkerian theory, and corpus analysis in Journal of Music Theory, Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale, and other outlets, and is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences.
Dr. Brody’s research has been recognized with several honors from professional societies. In 2019, he received the Society for Music Theory’s Emerging Scholar Award for his article “Parametric Interaction in Tonal Repertoires” (Journal of Music Theory). In 2021, he was awarded the Scheide Prize from the American Bach Society for his article “Teaching Bach’s Binary Forms” (BACH, 2018). He also received Music Theory Midwest’s Komar Award in 2012. Most recently, he was honored with the University of Louisville’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research and Creative Activity in 2023.
At the University of Louisville, Dr. Brody directs the first-year sequence in music theory and musicianship, as well as teaching advanced courses on chromatic harmony and Schenkerian analysis, among other topics. Some recent graduate seminar topics have included the analysis of opera and a course on the concept of rotation in musical form from the 18th to 20th centuries.
Dr. Brody earned a PhD in music theory from Yale University in 2013, and also holds an MA in music theory from the University of Minnesota. He also holds degrees in piano performance from Northwestern University (BM) and the University of Minnesota (MM and DMA). Prior to joining the University of Louisville, he was a faculty member at Indiana University and the Eastman School of Music.
An active pianist, Dr. Brody performs frequently with students and with faculty colleagues at the University of Louisville. He is a member of the Louisville-based group NouLou Chamber Players and is often heard in concert with members of the Louisville Orchestra.