William Ashbrook (January 28, 1922 — March 31, 2009) was an American musicologist, writer, journalist, and academic.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ashbrook earned a BA in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1946 and a MA in the same field from Harvard University in 1947. From 1949 to 1955 he taught humanities at Stephens College and from 1955 to 1974 he was a member of the English department at Indiana State University. From 1974 to 1984 he was professor of opera at the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (now the University of the Arts).
Although Ashbrook trained to be an English professor, he had a lifelong interest in Italian opera and his scholarly publications in the field of music far outshown his contributions in other areas. He is best remembered for his 1965 biographical work on Gaetano Donizetti and for the books The Operas of Puccini (1968; rev. 1985) and Donizetti and His Operas (1982). Ashbrook was also a regular contributor to several classical music journals, magazines, and other publications, including Opera News, Opera, and the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He was also a former editor of The Opera Quarterly. He died in Denver, Colorado at the age of 87.[1]