On Russian MusicOver the past four decades, Richard Taruskin's publications have redefined the field of Russian-music study. This volume gathers thirty-six essays on composers ranging from Bortnyansky in the eighteenth century to Tarnopolsky in the twenty-first, as well as all of the famous names in between. Some of these pieces, like the ones on Chaikovsky's alleged suicide and on the interpretation of Shostakovich's legacy, have won fame in their own right as decisive contributions to some of the most significant debates in contemporary musicology. An extensive introduction lays out the main issues and a justification of Taruskin's approach, seen both in the light of his intellectual development and in that of the changing intellectual environment, which has been particularly marked by the end of the cold war in Europe. |
Contents
taking it personally | 1 |
of Russian Music | 27 |
and the Study of Music | 76 |
The Great Symbolist Opera | 114 |
Chaikovsky as Symphonist | 125 |
10 | 139 |
From Fairy Tale to Opera in Four Moves | 214 |
Notes on a Fiery Angel | 223 |
Restoring Comrade Roslavets | 294 |
When Serious Music Mattered | 299 |
Casting a Great Composer as a Fictional Hero | 322 |
A Pill to Purge Stalinism | 329 |
Five Operas and a Symphony | 334 |
Hearing Cycles | 340 |
Of Mice and Mendelssohn | 357 |
Molchanovs The Dawns Are Quiet Here | 366 |
Prokofieffs Return | 233 |
Tone Style and Form in Prokofieffs Soviet Operas | 246 |
Great Artists Serving Stalin Like a Dog | 270 |
Stalin Lives On in the Concert Hall but Why? | 277 |
The Last Symphony? | 283 |
For Russian Music Mavens a Fabled Beast Is Bagged | 288 |
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Alexander aria artistic audience Balakirev ballet Beethoven Boris Boris Godunov Borodin Bortnyansky Brown called century Chaikovsky character classical composer’s Concerto conservatory critic cultural Dargomïzhsky Diaghilev dissident Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitry esthetic famous Fiery Angel final g C g genre Glinka Hoteev idiom Igor Ivan Jewish Jews Khovanshchina later letter libretto listeners lyrical melody memoirs Moscow Moscow Conservatory movement musicians musicologist Musorgsky Musorgsky’s muzïka Myaskovsky never Nikolai nineteenth-century official Onegin orchestral original performance Petersburg piano piece play political poser Poznansky première Press Prokofieff Prokofiev published Pushkin’s quartets Rimsky Rimsky-Korsakov Rimsky’s Roslavets Russian composer Russian music Russian opera scene scholars score Semyon Kotko Sergey Shostakovich sian singing Socialist Realism Solomon Volkov song Soviet music Soviet Union Stalin Stasov Stone Guest Stravinsky style stylistic Symphony Taruskin theater theme tion traditional Tsar Tsar’s Bride Vladimir Volkov Western words write wrote York