Matthew Brown is Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music. He is author of Debussy Redux: The Impact of His Music on Popular Culture (IUP, 2011), (with Th. Emil Homerin) Ariane & Bluebeard: From Fairy Tale to Comic Book Opera (IUP, 2022), and (with Robert W. Wason) Heinrich Schenker's Conception of Harmony.
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Acknowledgments I: Preliminaries Introduction: Debussy's Concept of the Musical Arabesque 1. Arabesques, Moresques, and Grotesques II: Decoration and Counterpoint 2. Debussy's Premiere Arabesque and the Legacy of J. S. Bach 3. Exoticism, Escapism, and Ennui 4. Prelude a 'L'Apres-midi d'un faune' III: Part and Whole 5. "A Premeditated Design" 6. La Mer and the Case of the Missing Fanfares 7. Bitten by the Tarantella: Debussy and Self-Generating Form IV: Borrowing and Self-Generation 8. Pelleas et Melisande, Arabesques, and Texts within Texts 9. Fake Beards and False Moustaches 10. Jeux: Poetry as Dance V: Emotions and Images 11. "Les miroirs ternis" 12. Debussy's Cinematic Obsessions 13. Arabesques as Confessions Conclusions: Coming Full Circle Bibliography Index
"Matthew Brown is as well qualified as any Debussy scholar practising today to write a full monograph on the tantalising subject of Debussy and his use of the arabesque. . . . Brown is an excellent writer and even when he makes use of music theory, his goals are clearly communicated. This makes this volume of potential value to a readership beyond the relatively narrow confines of musical academia. Indeed, his vast knowledge and reference to other arts and society at large, which has distinguished his other studies of Debussy, must make Divine Arabesque attractive in multi-disciplinary studies."-Simon Trezise, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Debussy