Edward W. Said

Musical Elaborations.

Columbia University Press, 1991. Wellek Library lectures at the University of California, Irvine. Second printing. 0231073186 xxi/109 pages.

Volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.5", is bound in blue cloth, with stamped silver lettering to spine. Book is in fine condition, with solid binding, clean and bright. Dust jacket exhibits very light shelfwear. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.

"Music does not have meaning in the same way that words do, but it is not meaningless. Music can evoke powerful emotions, feelings, and memories in every listener. It has private meaning. When one attends or performs a concert, there is a new - public - aspect to our private music. Edward Said examines the intersection of the public and private meaning of music in this brilliant new book.

"Musical Elaborations" fills a significant gap in contemporary cultural studies by examining the social and cultural setting of music. Said undertakes the cultural criticism of Western classical music as both a literary critic and a musician.

Incorporating the music criticism of Adorno and musical ideas from literary works by Proust and Mann, Said refers extensively to the styles of individual performers such as Glenn Gould, Arturo Toscanini, and Alfred Brendel, and to composers such as Beethoven, Wagner, Strauss, to name a few. Written in the wide-ranging manner that has made his name internationally known, Edward W. Said's "Musical Elaborations" will please followers will please followers of his column in "The Nation" and gain him new readers among the music-loving public."