by Alex Ross
Sousa, John Philip; Stars and Stripes Forever
Soyer, David
Spano, Robert
Sparklehorse
Spaun, Josef
Spears, Britney
Springsteen, Bruce
Stalin, Joseph
Stalnaker, Sara
Stanford University
Stanley, Ralph
Steblin, Rita
Steinberg, Michael
Steinitz, Richard
Stella, Frank
Stent, Mark (Spike)
Stereo Review
Stern, Isaac
Steuermann, Edward
Stevens, John
Stevens, Wallace; “Ésthetique du Mal,”
Stewart, J. O., Jr.
stile moderno
Stockhausen, Karlheinz; and the Beatles; and Bjork; and Miles Davis; Stimmung
Stokowski, Leopold
“Strange Fruit” (Allan)
Stratas, Teresa
Strauss, Richard; Four Last Songs; Ein Heldenleben
Stravinsky, Igor; The Firebird; in Los Angeles; Oedipus Rex; Orpheus; Requiem Canticles; The Rite of Spring; Symphony in Three Movements; Symphony of Psalms
Strepponi, Giuseppina
Strokes
Strozzi, Barbara: L’Eraclito amoroso
Strozzi, Giovanni Battista, the Younger
Stuckenschmidt, Hans Heinz
Stucky, Steven
Su, Liane
Sugarcubes
Super Girl
Suzuki, D. T.
Swafford, Jan
Swed, Mark
Sweelinck, Jan Pieterzsoon: Fantasia chromatica
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,”
Symphony Space
Tabuchi, Shoji
Tadolini, Eugenia
Tagaq, Tanya
Talese, Gay
Talking Heads; “Radio Head,” ; “Once in a Lifetime,”
Tallis Scholars
Tamagno, Francesco
Tan Dun
Tang Xianping
Taruskin, Richard
Tauber, Richard
Taubman, Howard
Taylor, Cecil
Taylor, Deems
Tchaikovsky, Piotr; Quartet No. 3, ; Symphony No. 6
10 (experimental duo)
Tenney, James
Thibaud, Jacques
Thomas Crown Affair, The (Jewison)
Thomas, Mansel
Thomas, Rob
Thomas, Theodore
Thoreau, Henry David
Thurber, Jeannette
Tilson Thomas, Michael
Timberlake, Justin: “Rock Your Body,”
Tolkien, J. R. R.: The Lord of the Rings
Tonight Show, The
Torre, Manuel
Torres, Melissa
Toscanini, Arturo; and NBC; praises Anderson; recordings of
Tower Records
Trakl, Georg
Travis
Tricky
Trilling, Lionel
Tucker, Richard
Tudor, David
Turangalîla Symphony (Messiaen)
Turner, Tina
Twenty One
2 Kolegas
Uchida, Mitsuko; musical tastes of; personality of; philosophy; plays Beethoven; recordings of; rehearsals of; routine at Marlboro; and Salonen
University of Alaska
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Southern California
University of Texas
Upshaw, Dawn
U2
Valgeir Sigurðsson
Vandré, Philipp
Vanilla Ice
Vanity Fair
Vänskä, Osmo
Van Vechten, Carl
Varèse, Edgard; Poème électronique
Vargyas, Lajos
Vaughan, Sarah
Veloso, Caetano
Velvet Underground; “Heroin,”
Verbier Festival
Verdi, Giuseppe, background of; centenary of; early style of; late style of; marries Strepponi; middle period of; modern performances of; modern productions of; older styles of singing; personality of; politics of; recordings of; views on audience; works of: Aida; Attila; Un ballo in maschera; La battaglia di Legnano; Don Carlos; “La donna è mobile,” Ernani; Falstaff; La forza del destino; Un giorno di regno; Giovanna d’Arco; I lombardi; Luisa Miller, Macbeth; Nabucco; Oberto; Otello; Requiem; Rigoletto; Simon Boccanegra; Stiffelio; String Quartet; “Tacea la notte placida,” ; La traviata; Il trovatore; “Va pensiero,” ; Les Vêpres siciliennes
Verrett, Shirley
vibrato, violin
Vick, Graham
Victoria (queen of England)
Victor Talking Machine Company
Viðar, Jórunn: “Vökuró,”
Vienna: Brahms in; Mozart in; Schubert in; Serkin in; Uchida in
Vienna Boys’ Choir
Vienna Philharmonic
Vienna State Opera
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Village Voice
Viola, Bill
Vivaldi, Antonio: Concerto in G Minor for two cellos; Four Seasons
Von Houser, Judith
Voznesensky, Andrei
Waart, Edo de
Wagner, Cosima
Wagner, Richard; Brahms and; dislike of “classical” music; productions of; Verdi and; works of: Götterdämmerung; Parsifal; Das Rheingold; The Ring of the Nibelung; Tannhäuser; Tristan und Isolde; Die Walküre
Wagner, Wieland
Waldoff, Jessica
Wallenstein, Alfred
Walt Disney Concert Hall, see Disney Hall
Walter, Bruno
Wanli (emperor of China)
Warp Records
Warren, Leonard
Weber, William
Weberman, A. J.
Webern, Anton; Five Pieces for Orchestra
Weingartner, Felix
Weng, Helen
West, Mae
White Stripes
Whitman, Walt
WHRB
Widmann, Jörg: Hunt Quartet
Wilde, Oscar
Williams, Hank; “I Saw the Light,”
Williams, Hassan Ralph
Williams, Paul
Williams, Peter
Willis, Ellen
Wing Ho
Winstead, William
Wittgenstein, Ludwig
Witting, Robin
Wolpe, Stefan
Wonder, Stevie
Woodford, Paul
Wozencroft, Keith
Wright, Gordon
Wu Na
Wu-Tang Clan
Wyatt, Robert
Xenakis, Iannis
Xi Chuan
Xiao Youmei
Yago, Gideon
Yale University
Yan Jun
Yardbirds
Yeats, William Butler
Yevtushenko, Yevgeny
Yo La Tengo
Yorke, Thom; background of; and Bjork; and fans; lyrics of; musical style of; on music business; personality of; singing of
Youens, Susan
Young, Neil
YouTube
Ysaye, Eugène
Yurodivy Quartet
Zambello, Francesca
Zantzinger, William
Zappa, Frank; Freak Out!
zarabanda
Zarlino, Gioseffo
Zaslaw, Neal
Zeffirelli, Franco
Zen Buddhism
Zhang Liangying
Zhang Shouwang (Jeffray Zhang)
Zhang Tianye
Zhang Yimou
zhonghe shaoyue
Zhou Long
Zorn, John
Zweig, Stefan
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
22 Detail of “Misero Apollo” from Francesco Cavalli’s Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne. Reproduced by kind permis
sion of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice.
26 A bocet, or Romanian lament, as recorded by Béla Bartók in the village of Mâneru in 1917. Reproduced by kind permission of Peter Bartók and the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
29 Johannes Ockeghem’s “Fors seulement,” from the late-fifteenth-century Wolfenbütteler Chan-sonnier. Reproduced by kind permission of the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel.
37 “Misero Apollo” from Francesco Cavalli’s Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne. Reproduced by kind permission of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice.
38 Hecuba’s lament from Cavalli’s Didone. Reproduced by kind permission of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice.
41 “When I am laid in earth” from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, in an eighteenth-century copy. Reproduced by kind permission of the Juilliard Manuscript Collection.
43 The Ciaccona of Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin, in an anonymous copy made in the mid-or late-eighteenth century. Reproduced from volume 44 of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, published in 1895.
45 The “Crucifixus” of Bach’s B-Minor Mass, in Bach’s hand. Reproduced from volume 44 of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe.
47 From the coda of the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in the working copy prepared for the first publication. Reproduced by kind permission of the Juilliard Manuscript Collection.
53 The initial bass line of Jake Holmes’s “Dazed and Confused.” Reproduced by kind permission of Jake Holmes.
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following previously published material:
“Listening in October” from Winter News, copyright © 1966 by John Haines. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
“Return to Richardson, Spring 1981” from Of Your Passage, O Summer, copyright © 2004 by John Haines. Reprinted by permission of Limberlost Press.
“Vökuró” from Kvæði, copyright © 1960 by Jakobína Sigurðardóttir. Reprinted by permission of Màl og menning.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint lyrics from the following:
BJÖRK
“Hidden Place,” words and music by Björk Guðmundsdóttir, Guy Sigsworth, and Mark Bell, copyright © 2002 by Universal Music Corp., EMI Virgin Music, Inc., and Warp Music Ltd. All rights for Warp Music Ltd. controlled and administered by EMI Virgin Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
“The Pleasure Is All Mine,” words and music by Björk Guðmundsdóttir, copyright © 2004 by Universal-Polygram Music Publishing Ltd. All rights in the United States and Canada controlled and administered by Universal-Polygram International Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
“Who Is It,” words and music by Björk Guðmundsdóttir, copyright © 2004 by Universal-Polygram Music Publishing Ltd. All rights in the United States and Canada controlled and administered by Universal-Polygram International Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
BOB DYLAN
“As I Went Out One Morning,” copyright © 1968, renewed © 1996 by Dwarf Music
“Ballad of a Thin Man,” copyright © 1965, renewed © 1993 by Special Rider Music
“Blind Willie McTell,” copyright © 1983 by Special Rider Music
“The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar,” copyright © 1981 by Special Rider Music
“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” copyright © 1963, renewed © 1991 by Special Rider Music
“Highway 61 Revisited,” copyright © 1965, renewed © 1993 by Special Rider Music
“Idiot Wind,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” copyright © 1973 by Ram’s Horn Music
“Like a Rolling Stone,” copyright © 1965, renewed © 1993 by Special Rider Music
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” copyright 1964, renewed © 1992 by Special Rider Music
“Mama, You Been on My Mind,” copyright © 1964, renewed © 1992 by Special Rider Music
“Meet Me in the Morning,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music
“Million Miles,” copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music
“Not Dark Yet,” copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music
“Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” copyright © 1966, renewed © 1994 by Dwarf Music
“Simple Twist of Fate,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music
“Tangled Up in Blue,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music
“Trying to Get to Heaven,” copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music
“Visions of Johanna,” copyright © 1966, renewed © 1994 by Dwarf Music
NIRVANA
“All Apologies,” words and music by Kurt Cobain, copyright © 1993 by The End of Music and Primary Wave Tunes. All rights controlled and administered by EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
RADIOHEAD
“Airbag,” words and music by Edward O’Brien, Philip Selway, Jonathan Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, and Thomas Yorke, copyright © 1997 by Warner Chappell Music, Ltd.
“Creep,” words and music by Thomas Yorke, Jonathan Greenwood, Philip Selway, Colin Greenwood, Edward O’Brien, Albert Hammond, and Mike Hazelwood, copyright © 1992 by EMI April Music, Inc. and WB Music Corp. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. Contains elements of “The Air That I Breathe” by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, copyright © 1972 by EMI April Music, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Alfred Music Publishing and Hal Leonard Corporation.
“Pyramid Song,” words and music by Thomas Edward Yorke, Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Edward John O’Brien, Philip James Selway, and Colin Charles Greenwood, copyright © 2001 by Warner Chappell Music, Ltd.
LISTEN TO THIS. Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Alex Ross.
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The following essays were originally published, in slightly different form, in The New Yorker: “Listen to This” (February 16, 2004); “Infernal Machines,” which incorporates portions of two New Yorker articles, “The Record Effect” (June 6, 2005) and “The Well-Tempered Web” (October 22, 2007); “The Storm of Style” (July 24, 2006); “Orbiting” (August 20, 2001), originally as “The Searchers”; “The Anti-Maestro” (April 30, 2007); “Great Soul” (February 3, 1997); “Emotional Landscapes” (August 23, 2004), originally as “Björk’s Saga”; “Symphony of Millions” (July 7, 2008); “Song of the Earth” (May 12, 2008); “Verdi’s Grip” (September 24, 2001); “Almost Famous” (May 21, 2001); “Edges of Pop,” which incorporates four New Yorker articles, “Grand Illusions” (May 19, 2003), “The Art of Noise” (July 13, 1998), “Eighty-two Very Good Years” (May 25, 1998), and “Generation Exit” (April 25, 1994); “Learning the Score” (September 4, 2006); “Voice of the Century” (April 13, 2009); “The Music Mountain” (July 29, 2009); “The End of Silence” (October 4, 2010), originally as “Searching for Silence”; “I Saw the Light” (May 10, 1999), originally as “The Wanderer”; and “Fervor” (September 25, 2006).
Portions of “Blessed Are the Sad” originally appeared in The New Republic as “Why Is Light Given” (March 23, 1998).
Owing to limitations of space, all illustration credits and acknowledgments for permission
to reprint lyrics can be found on pages 379—380.
First published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott
eISBN 9781429977616
First eBook Edition : January 2012
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Farrar, Straus and Giroux edition as follows:
Ross, Alex, 1968-
Listen to this / Alex Ross.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-374-18774-3
1. Musical criticism. 2. Popular music and art music. 3. Music—History and criticism. 1. Title.
ML3785 .R67 2010
780—dc22
2010010283
Picador ISBN 978-0-312-61068-5
First Picador Edition: November 2011