Music at the Limits (eBook)

Edward W. Said (1935-2003) was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He was the music critic for the Nation and the author of numerous books, including Out of Place, Culture and Imperialism, and Orientalism. His books with Columbia University Press include Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography, Humanism and Democratic Criticism, Beginnings: Intention and Method, and Musical Elaborations.

ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart I: The Eighties 1. The Music Itself: Glenn Gould?s Contrapuntal Vision2. Remembrances of Things Played: Presence and Memory in the Pianist's Art3. Pomp and Circumstance (on Musical Festivals)4. On Richard Strauss5. Die Walkre, Aida, X6. Music and Feminism7. Maestro for the Masses (review of Understanding Toscanini)8. Middle Age and Performers9. The Vienna Philharmonic: The Complete Beethoven Symphonies and Concertos10. The Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni11. Glenn Gould at the Metropolitan Museum12. Giulio Cesare13. Bluebeard's Castle, Erwartung14. Extreme Occasions (on Celibidache)15. Peter Sellars's Mozart16. Andras Schiff at Carnegie HallPart II: The Nineties 17. Richard Strauss18. Wagner and the Met?s Ring19. Opera Productions (Der Rosenkavalier, House of the Dead, Doctor Faust)20. Style and Stylessness (Elektra, Semiramide, Katya Kabanova)21. Alfred Brendel: Words for Music (review of Alfred Brendel's Music Sounded Out: Essays, Lectures, Interviews, Afterthoughts)22. Die Tote Stadt, Fidelio, The Death of Klinghoffer23. Uncertainties of Style (The Ghosts of Versailles, Die Soldaten)24. Musical Retrospection25. The Bard Festival26. The Importance of Being Unfaithful to Wagner27. Music as Gesture (on Solti)28. Les Troyens29.Child's Play (review of Maynard Solomon's Mozart: A Life)30. 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould31. Bach's Genius, Schumann's Eccentricity, Chopin's Ruthlessness, Rosen's Gift (review of Charles Rosen's The Romantic Generation)32. Why Listen to Boulez?33. Hindemith and Mozart34. Review of Michael Tanner's Wagner35. In the Chair (review of Peter Ostwald's Glenn Gould and the Tragedy of Genius)36. On Fidelio37. Music and Spectacle (La Cenerentola and The Rake's Progress)38. Review of Gottfried Wagner's He Who Does Not Howl with the Wolf: The Wagner Legacy—An Autobiography39. Bach for the MassesPart III: 2000 and Beyond 40. Daniel Barenboim (Bonding Across Cultural Boundaries)41. Glenn Gould, the Virtuoso as Intellectual42. Cosmic Ambition (review of Christoph Wolff's Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician)43. Barenboim and the Wagner Taboo44. Untimely Meditations (review of Maynard Solomon's Late Beethoven)Appendix: Bach/BeethovenIndex