Musical Lives and Times Examined

In this new and final collection, Richard Taruskin gathers a sweeping range of keynote speeches, reviews, and critical essays from the first twenty years of the twenty-first century. With twenty-three essays in total, this volume presents five lectures delivered in Budapest on Hungarian music and ten essays on Russian music. Reviews of contemporary work in musicology and reflections on the place of music in society showcase Taruskin’s trademark wit and breadth.Musical Lives and Times Examined is an essential collection, a comprehensive portrait of a distinguished figure in music studies, illuminating the ideas that have transformed the discipline and will continue to do so.

In this new and final collection, Richard Taruskin gathers a sweeping range of keynote speeches, reviews, and critical essays from the first twenty years of the twenty-first century. With twenty-three essays in total, this volume presents five lectures delivered in Budapest on Hungarian music and ten essays on Russian music. Reviews of contemporary work in musicology and reflections on the place of music in society showcase Taruskin’s trademark wit and breadth.Musical Lives and Times Examined is an essential collection, a comprehensive portrait of a distinguished figure in music studies, illuminating the ideas that have transformed the discipline and will continue to do so.

Contents

In Lieu of Dedication: Fine Friends, Presiding Spirits—László
Somfai, Lyudmila Kovnatskaya, Richard L. Crocker 

1. The Many Dangers of Music 

LACI RESZE (LACI'S PART)
2. Liszt and Bad Taste 
3. Goldmark’s Queen: On Signifiers 
4. Why You Cannot Leave Bartók Out 
5. Liszt’s Problems, Bartók’s Problems, My Problems 
6. Kodály’s Pitiful Lament—and Mine 

милина часть (MILA'S PART)
7. Russian Responses to Bach 
8. So Much More Than a Composer 
9. Rimsky-Korsakov Catches Up 
10. Prokofieff’s Problems—and Ours 
11. Коле посвящается (for Kolya) 
12. In from the Cold 
13. Flesh and Blood Juke Box 
14. Tales of Push and Pull 
15. Was Shostakovich a Martyr, or Is That Just Fiction? 
16. How to Win a Stalin Prize: Shostakovich and His Quintet 

PARS RICARDI PRIMI (RICARDUS PRIMUS'S PART)
17. Shooting a White Elephant 
18. Is This a Thing? 
19. Exoticism and Authenticity 
20. Pathos Is Banned 
21. Everybody Gotta Be Someplace: On Context 
22. Alluring Failure, Exhilarating Defeat 

23. Envoi: All Was Foreseen; Nothing Was Foreseen 
Acknowledgments 
Index