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"A book of landmark importance. It is unprecedented in its design: a brilliantly selected group of essays on music coupled with lucid, deeply incisive, and in every way masterly analysis of Adorno's thinking about music. No one who studies Adorno and music will be able to dispense with it; and if they can afford only one book on Adorno and music, this will be the one. For in miniature, it contains everything one needs: a collection of exceptionally important writings on all the principal aspects of music and musical life with which Adorno dealt; totally reliable scholarship; and powerfully illuminating commentary that will help readers at all levels read and re-read the essays in question."-Rose Rosengard Subotnik, author of Deconstructive Variations: Music and Reason in Western Society
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Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), one of the principal figures associated with the Frankfurt School, wrote extensively on culture, modernity, aesthetics, literature, and - more than any other subject - music. To this day, Adorno remains the single most influential contributor to the development of qualitative musical sociology which, together with his nuanced intertextual readings of musical works, gives him broad claim as a continuing force in the study of music. This long-awaited collection of twenty-seven essays represents the full range of Adorno's music writing. Nearly half of the essays appear in English for the first time; all of the essays are fully annotated; and, the previously translated essays have been corrected and missing text restored, making this volume the definitive resource on Adorno's musical thought.
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As with a number of other philosopher-aestheticians, Adorno addressed questions about music's fundamental nature, which for him, as for others, invited consideration of musical meaning; the question of meaning in turn invited speculation about music's relation to language, the subject of the essay "MUSIC LANGUAGE, AND COMPOSITION" (1956; this voulume, pp. 113-26). Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
As with a number of other philosopher-aestheticians, Adorno addressed questions about music's fundamental nature, which for him, as for others, invited consideration of musical meaning; the question of meaning in turn invited speculation about music's relation to language, the subject of the essay "MUSIC LANGUAGE, AND COMPOSITION" (1956; this voulume, pp. 113-26). Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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4 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Required reading for anyone interested in art music
7 July 2007
Format:Paperback
Finally, Adorno's major writings on music are available in a single, handsome volume with expert translations, copious footnotes from the editor, and illuminating editorial introductions. This collection contains the most important and influential essays and although it's not complete, this is probably the only Adorno collection a music student/scholar will need. Of course no musicologist should be without certain books such as "The Philosophy of New Music", but as far as the essays go, this is the big one. I've read some from "Sound Figures" and "Quasi una fantasia" and they're great, but I'd recommend them for hardcore Adorno fanatics or specialists only.
For the most part, the translations are very readable. They may not always achieve the level of Robert Hullot-Kentor's beautiful translations, but they straighten out the dense German prose and provide a good degree of specificity. Adorno is difficult enough without having to deal with awkward wordings. Susan Gillespie has done a great service for readers everywhere.
If you're looking at this, you probably know you're getting into and what to expect. This is essential reading - everyone involved in music should be required to read at least a few of these essays.
For the most part, the translations are very readable. They may not always achieve the level of Robert Hullot-Kentor's beautiful translations, but they straighten out the dense German prose and provide a good degree of specificity. Adorno is difficult enough without having to deal with awkward wordings. Susan Gillespie has done a great service for readers everywhere.
If you're looking at this, you probably know you're getting into and what to expect. This is essential reading - everyone involved in music should be required to read at least a few of these essays.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
You don't have to adore him to appreciate his contribution to 20th-century thought
17 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback
Though I can't say I've ever been sympathetic to Adorno's views, he's always been the source I go to when relating music to politics. So-called "free jazz" is enjoying a revival internationally, so much so that the majority of live music reviews that I edit for a jazz website speak glibly and naively about the greater "freedom" of this "new" music (which actually appeared over 50 years ago, or about half-way through the telescoped history of jazz) and as a welcome escape from "the tradition." My role is not to correct or criticize but to teach, and Adorno at least holds forth the possibility of opening minds to the meaning of words like tradition and anarchyl, creativity and invention (they're not the same), and free choice vs. unlimited freedom. Although naivete and ignorance often win the day (it's much easier for a writer to describe the visual choreography of "free jazz" artists than the invisible architecture of a Charlie Parker solo), Adorno has on occasion opened up minds to some important questions about music, culture and politics. When he fails to promote further thought upon the subject, I simply accede to the label that has become my scarlet letter: "he's a traditionalist!" (Thank goodness, there are some of us left. Traditions are the most ephemeral, fragile, deconstructible of all human fabrications. But they're preferable to the alternative, and some of them--like playing notes instead of raw emotions on your horn--still make a lot of sense. Also, traditions assure the academization of a subject (literature and canons, film and auteur theory and, for a while, jazz and race). By contrast, freedom might get you a gig but not tenure.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Adorno
10 Jan 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An outstanding compilation of Adorno's writings on music and aesthetics with very helpful background information and commentary.
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