Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation

Marianne Wheeldon is Professor of Music Theory at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Debussy's Late Style (Indiana 2009) and co-editor, with Elliott Antokoletz, of Rethinking Debussy (Oxford 2011).

• CONTENTS Acknowledgments 1 The Construction of Reputation and the Case of Debussy2 Reputational Entrepreneurs3 Debussyism, Anti-debussyism, Neoclassicism4 The Controversy over the Ode à la France5 Collective Memory and the Material Shaping of Debussy's Legacy Appendix: Le Florilège de Claude DebussyNotesWorks CitedIndex

"A major contribution to understanding the construction of legacies and reputations by exploring the intersection of an artist's output with the artistic, aesthetic, and ideological concerns of his afterlife. These questions intertwine, in the case of Debussy, also with the issue of commemoration in the aftermath of World War I, a topic very much at the forefront of current scholarship."--- Annegret Fauser, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Music,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"Drawing upon a vast body of unknown and unexamined materials, Marianne Wheeldon brilliantly exposes the controversies surrounding Debussy's legacy in the immediate aftermath of his death--a legacy that was sometimes bitterly disputed both within and between pro- and anti-Debussy factions, and involved prominent composers, performers, and critics. Engrossing and eminently readable."--- David Grayson, Professor of Musicology, University of Minnesota"Wheeldon is a well-known Debussy scholar, with numerous published works and presentations on Debussy and French musical culture to her name. Her prose style is clear yet detailed, and she illustrates her argument with select scores, translations of texts, and photographs. The perspective of this book is unique: the life and works of a composer are frequently the subject of examination, but Debussy's Legacy considers all the surrounding factors thatsolidified Debussy's reputation as one of the most important composers of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Those wishing to gain a deep, insider's understanding of how Debussy's reputation was built, andof his musical 'life' during the interwar period, will find this book invaluable." --J.E. Wickell, Western Washington University, Choice