Filling a significant gap in contemporary cultural studies,Musical Elaborationsexamines the intersection of the public and private meaning of music. Incorporating the music criticism of Adorno, musical ideas from literary works by Proust, and criticism by Benjamin and de Man into his work, noted critic Edward W. Said discusses performers such as Glenn Gould, Arturo Toscanini, and Alfred Brendel and such composers as Beethoven, Wagner, and Strauss.Studs TerkelNot since Virgil Thomson have we had a music critic with as wide ranging a view as Edward Said.He informs us not only of a performer's veracity, but of the social climate that flavors it.Examines the intersection of the public and private meaning of music. This book incorporates the music criticism of Adorno, musical ideas from literary works by Proust, and criticism by Benjamin and de Man, and discusses performers such as Glenn Gould, Arturo Toscanini, and Alfred Brendel and such composers as Beethoven, Wagner, and Strauss. Examines the performance of Western high-art music, the politicized theorizing of it, and the use of \"melody, solitude, and affirmation\" in it