Debussy Redux: The Impact of His Music on Popular Culture

The works of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) had a major impact on the music of the 20th century, influencing a range of figures from Ravel and Stravinsky to Henri Dutilleux and Toru Takemitsu. Less well known is Debussy's influence on the popular culture of the period. Matthew Brown shows how Debussy's music has surfaced in an array of contexts from the film music of the 1940s to the dance music of the 1990s.

“"This is a model work of impeccable scholarship; it explores a vital topic with an original approach." -Walter T. Everett, Professor of Music, University of Michigan"In a study that is both scholarly and highly entertaining, Matthew Brown explores pop culture's appropriations of Debussy's music in everything from '30s swing tunes, '40s movie scores, '50s lounge/exotica, '70s rock and animation, '80s action films, and Muzak. The book, however, is far more than a compendium of fascinating borrowings. The author uses these musical transfers to tackle some of the most fundamental aesthetic issues relevant to the music of all composers, not just Debussy. A very stimulating and provocative book-and a great pleasure to read." -David Grayson, Professor of Music, University of Minnesota”

"This is a model work of impeccable scholarship; it explores a vital topic with an original approach." - Walter T. Everett, Professor of Music, University of Michigan "In a study that is both scholarly and highly entertaining, Matthew Brown explores pop culture's appropriations of Debussy's music in everything from '30s swing tunes, '40s movie scores, '50s lounge/exotica, '70s rock and animation, '80s action films, and Muzak. The book, however, is far more than a compendium of fascinating borrowings. The author uses these musical transfers to tackle some of the most fundamental aesthetic issues relevant to the music of all composers, not just Debussy. A very stimulating and provocative book - and a great pleasure to read." - David Grayson, Professor of Music, University of Minnesota

Born in London, Matthew Brown studied at the Royal College of Music Preparatory Division and later at King's College London. He pursued a Ph.D. in musicology at Cornell University. From 1983-1986 he was a junior fellow at Harvard University. Since then, he has taught musicology at the Eastman School
of Music and theory at Louisiana State University. He has served on the council of the American Musicological Society and the executive board of the Society for Music Theory. He is currently Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music.

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