It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our esteemed colleague, Dr David Code (1966-2022), on 4th August.
David was a Reader in Music at the School of Culture and Creative Arts of the University of Glasgow – his academic home for the last twenty years. David started his academic career at the University of California, Berkeley with a thesis on the interdisciplinary analysis of poetics, performance and materiality in Mallarmé, Debussy and Matisse. He went on to become a leading Debussy scholar: his biography of the composer for Reaktion Books’s “Critical Lives” series was published in 2010, and he also authored numerous journal articles and chapters, notably ‘Hearing Debussy Reading Mallarmé: Music après Wagner in the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune’ (JAMS, 2001) and ‘Debussy’s String Quartet in the Brussels salon of “La Libre Esthetique”’, (19th-Century Music, 2007). David also co-organized a conference, co-hosted by Glasgow and the Royal Northern College of Music, to mark Debussy’s centenary in 2018. Most recently, he contributed to Debussy in Context, edited by Simon Trezise (CUP, forthcoming, 2023) and was co-editor of Debussy Studies 2 with Barbara Kelly (CUP, forthcoming 2023).
David was also known and respected for his contributions to the field of Film Music, most notably through his work on the music of Stanley Kubrick’s films.
Apart from the topics he was most prolific in, David’s colleagues and students knew that his intellectual curiosity, inquisitive mind and contagious enthusiasm extended into a wide range of musics and repertoires. A popular lecturer and supervisor, he influenced many generations of students at Glasgow – from first year to PhD –, and he was also very active in shaping the cultural life of the School.
An obituary for David can be found here:
https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/david-code-obituary?pid=202548791