Adorno Philosophy of Modern Music Summary

Philosophy of Modern Music – Selected Summaries and Interpretations  Theodor Adorno

INTRODUCTION CHOICE OF SUBJECT MATTER

Adorno opens with a [rather long] quote by Walter Benjamin about the role of philosophy in identifying two “opposing camps,” and bringing them together through their their relationship to a larger larger whole. The quote outlines Adorno’s Philosophy of Modern Music, Music , which deals essentially with the two protagonists of 20 th century music: music: Schoenberg and and Stravinsky. In justifying his claim that the two camps do not measure the level of relevance or ability, Adorno mentioned Bartok as a “reconciler of the two,” and stated that his best works are probably better in density and richness than those of  Stravinsky. The statement statement was supported by a reference reference to an article article by Rene Leibowitz entitled, “Bela Bartok or the Possibility ofCompromise ofCompromise In Modern Music.” Adorno concludes this section by explaining that a philosophical philosophical study of art aims not to analyze the specific techniques – 12 tone, neo-classical – but by their incorporation incorporation into the works of the composers. NEW CONFORMISM

Adorno claims that modern music, like visual art, is not cast in antitheses, but involves varying camps seeking the same goal: to “react to the cultural cultural depravity depravity of the the traditional traditional idiom.” idiom.” To Adorno, Adorno, visual visual abstraction abstraction saw its parallel in atonal atonal music. Photography and decorative, decorative, post-romantic post-romantic music were the same stimuli stimuli to bring forth forth modernism. Because of the “mass-produced” “mass-produced” appeal of “accessible” music, modern or “radical” music was cast into isolation. isolation. Adorno then attacks the generation generation following following Schoenberg and Stavinsky, especially Hindemith, Hindemith, for its turn to preestablishes norms norms for the sake of safety and not for innovation. innovation. He also attacks those who completely abandon all previously established norms in favor of anarchy. About the music of Shostakovich, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Stravinsky, and Britten, Adorno writes: all these have in common a taste for tastelessness, a simplicity resulting from ignorance, an immaturity which masks as enlightenment, and a dearth of technical means.”

SCHOENBERG AND PROGRESS LONELINESS AS STYLE

In this section, Schoenberg discusses discusses musical borrowing in Schoenberg and Berg, especially in Erwartung, Erwartung , whose words he regards as being paradigmatic to the style style of loneliness. The poem is about a city dweller dweller whose citizens are totally totally unaware of each other. The words define the point point of intersection between Art between  Art Nouveau and Expressionism. Expressionism. Berg’s Lyric Lyric Suite is

also mentioned in the way it quotes directly from Zemlinsky. Adorno writes that Expressionism reveals loneliness as universal.

EXPRESSIONISM AS OBJECTIVITY

Adorno writes: “Expression polarizes musical continuity according to its extremes.” An expressionist work, then, is built upon extreme contrasts much in the way older forms relied on transition. By rejecting communication with the outside world, Expressionism attains consistency only within works of art. In other words, the work is consistent within itself, but not with the outside world – this includes classical form or derivative melody. The expressive character of the musical work, to Adorno, is solidified and “objectified” within the music’s structure. Adorno is trying to deconstruct the illusion of subjectivity in Expressionism, saying that amidst the inward character of the music, the work holds together via its form, the glue of which is the very element of contrast that makes the work seem untamed or “expressionistic.” Adorno concludes that Expressionism managed to reconcile objectivity with subjectivity; it rejected totality yet was organic in composition, however irrational it may seem on the surface. In a footnote, Adorno expresses the difference between Expressionism and Surrealism. In a nutshell, the former portrays sudden gesture and motionlessness of the body, whereas the latter dispenses with life, destroying the boundary between the body and the world of objects.