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Theodor Adorno
INTRODUCTION
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 relationship to a larger whole. The quote outlines
Adorno’s Philosophy of Modern Music, which deals essentially with the two
protagonists of 20th century music: Schoenberg 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 was supported by a reference to an article by
Rene Leibowitz entitled, “Bela Bartok or the Possibility ofCompromise In
Modern Music.” Adorno concludes this section by explaining that a
philosophical study of art aims not to analyze the specific techniques – 12
tone, neo-classical – but by their 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 depravity of the traditional idiom.” To Adorno, visual abstraction
saw its parallel in atonal music. Photography and decorative, post-romantic
music were the same stimuli to bring forth modernism. Because of the
“mass-produced” appeal of “accessible” music, modern or “radical” music
was cast into isolation. Adorno then attacks the generation following
Schoenberg and Stavinsky, especially Hindemith, for its turn to pre-
establishes norms for the sake of safety and not for innovation. He also
attacks those who completely abandon all previously established norms in
favor of anarchy. About the music of Shostakovich, 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.”
LONELINESS AS STYLE
EXPRESSIONISM AS OBJECTIVITY