Frederic Basil Rowley Smallman (30 June 1921 – 8 December 2001), commonly known as Basil Smallman, was an English music scholar.

Born in Croydon on 30 June 1921,^[1] Smallman was educated at Cranleigh School, New College, Oxford, and the Royal College of Music.^[2] After war service, he completed the Bachelor of Music degree at Oxford in 1946–47,^[3] and then completed a Diploma in Education in 1947.^[4] He was then the music master at Malvern College between 1947 and 1949,^[2] before he was appointed to a lectureship in music at the University of Nottingham in 1950; for a time after 1955 he also worked as an accompanist with the BBC. Promotion to a senior lectureship at Nottingham in 1961 was followed in 1964 by his appointment to the James and Constance Alsop Chair of Music at the University of Liverpool.^[1][2][4] He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts there between 1969 and 1971, Public Orator between 1972 and 1973, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor between 1973 and 1976; on retirement in 1985, he was appointed an emeritus professor.^[1][5] Smallman was especially interested in the German Baroque Passion and Heinrich Schütz; in retirement, he expanded his academic output, and published three monographs. He died on 8 December 2001, and was survived by his three children and his wife Ann,^[3] née Hesketh-Williams.^[2]

• The Background of Passion Music (SCM Press, 1957; 2nd ed. 1970).
• The Music of Heinrich Schütz (Mayflower Enterprises, 1985).
• The Piano Trio: History, Technique, and Repertoire (Clarendon Press, 1990).
• The Piano Quartet and Quintet: Style, Structure, and Scoring (Clarendon Press, 1994).
• Schütz, Master Musicians Series (Oxford University Press, 2000).