Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation

Examines the vicissitudes of Debussy's posthumous reception in the 1920s and '30s, and analyzes the confluence of factors that helped to overturn the initial backlash against his music. Rather than viewing Debussy's artistic greatness as the cause of his enduring legacy, the author considers it instead as an effect, tracing the manifold processes that shaped how his music was received and how its aesthetic worth was consolidated. Speaking to readers both within and beyond the domain of French music and culture, this study enters into a dialogue with research in the sociology of reputation and commemoration, examining the collective nature of the processes of artistic consecration. By analyzing the cultural forces that came to bear on the formation of Debussy's legacy, the author contributes to a greater understanding of the inter-war period - the cultural politics, debates, and issues that confronted musicians in 1920s and '30s Paris - and offers a musicological perspective on the subject of reputation building, to date underrepresented in recent writings on reputation and commemoration in the humanities. This book is an important new study, groundbreaking in its methodology and in its approach to musical influence and cultural consecration.