Musical Lives and Times Examined

Richard Taruskin (1945–2022) was Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley, and the author of a dozen books, including The Oxford History of Western Music, major studies of Stravinsky and other topics in Russian music, and an especially influential book of essays on musical performance, Text and Act.

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