A shorter version of this article was read as a paper at the Royal Musical Association Annual Conference on 8 April 1989Google Scholar

1 Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), trans John Cumming (London, 1979), 4 See Bacon, Francis, Novum organum, The Works of Francis Bacon, ed Basil Montagu (London, 1825), xiv, 31Google Scholar

2 Adorno, Introduction to the Sociology of Music, trans E B Ashton (New York, 1976), 4 See original German, Einleitung in die Musiksoziologie (1962), Gesammelte Schriften, ed Rolf Tiedemann et al. (hereafter GS), xiv (Frankfurt am Main, 1973), 182Google Scholar

3 See Paddison, Max, 'Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, Music Analysis, 6 (1987), 355–77 (pp 367–72)Google Scholar

4 See Adorno, , ‘Über das gegenwärtige Verhältnis von Philosophie und Musik’ (1953), GS, xvii (1984), 160–2. Sprachcharakter can be translated variously as ‘language-character’, ‘linguistic-character’ or ‘speech-character‘Google Scholar

5 See Zenck, Martin, Kunst als begriffslose Erkenntnis Zum Kunstbegriff der ästhetischen Theorie Theodor W Adornos (Munich, 1977), section III, ‘Erkenntnischarakter der Musik’, 93–162Google Scholar

6 The concept of ‘ideology’ is to be understood here in its specialized sociological sense, i e vested interests masquerading as objective or disinterested attitudes, or claiming to be in accord with ‘natural laws’ or common senseGoogle Scholar

7 Max Weber (1864–1920) argued that the overriding tendency of Western culture was towards the ever-increasing rationalization of all aspects of social life, together with the progressive domination of nature which he considered this process implied This was to be seen not only in science, industry, business, administration and government, but also in politics, religion and the arts The process of progressive rationalization was at the same time a process of disenchantment and demythologization Weber linked rationalization with religion and the rise of capitalism, and saw the origins of both extreme rationalization and capitalism in the application of the rational and ascetic principles for the strict organization of all aspects of life previously restricted to monastic circles up to the period of the Renaissance in Europe His thesis was that the dissolution of the monasteries had led to both the individualization of the principle of rationalization (as Protestantism, thrift and the accumulation of capital) and its secularization as the increasing organization, administration and control of society and the domination of nature In an appendix to his Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (later published separately as Die rationale und soziologische Grundlagen der Musik, Tübingen, 1921, repr 1972; translated as The Rational and Social Foundations of Music, ed. and trans Don Martindale, Johannes Riedel and Gertrude Neuwirth, Carbondale, 1958, repr 1969), Weber developed the concept of rationalization specifically in relation to music. He examined the relation of melody to harmony, compared and contrasted Western and non-Western scales and tuning systems, looked at the development of polyphony in relation to notational systems, and considered developments in the technology of musical instruments Weber suggested that the effects of this process were also to be seen in music, in terms of the rationalization of tuning systems, instrument technology, the development of complex notational systems and the complex polyphony that this made possible, the development of the orchestra, and of large-scale instrumental forms See also Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–5), trans. Talcott Parsons with a foreword by R. H Tawney (London, 1930, repr 1971) The significance of Weber's pioneering effort towards an understanding of ways in which music and society are mediated in material terms was recognized early by Adorno, and came to occupy a central position in his music theory The influence of Weber's theory of rationalization on Adorno is to be seen particularly in Dialektik der Aufklarung (with Max Horkheimer, Amsterdam, 1947, GS, iii (1981), translated as Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. John Cumming, New York, 1972, repr London, 1979) and Philosophie der neuen Musik (Tübingen, 1949, GS, xii (1975), translated as Philosophy of Modern Music, trans Anne G. Mitchell and Wesley V Blomster, New York, 1973)Google Scholar

8 Adorno, ‘Theses on the Sociology of Art’, trans Brian Trench, Birmingham Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 2 (1972), 127 See original German, ‘Thesen zur Kunstsoziologie’ (1967), GS, x/1 (1977), 373Google Scholar

9 The term Gehalt can mean both ‘content’ and ‘substance’. It therefore has a more ‘material’ sense than the English term ‘content’ Thus gesellschaftlicher or sozialer Gehalt implies the ‘substance’ of society within musical materialGoogle Scholar

10 Adorno's work during his period of American exile with Paul Lazarsfeld on the Princeton Radio Project did involve empirical research Nevertheless, as a true product of the speculative tradition of German Idealist philosophy, Adorno remained ambivalent towards American empirical research methods While such methods had some influence on his work in the area of psychology, their effect on his music theory was negligibleGoogle Scholar

11 Adorno, Asthetische Theorie, GS, vii (1970), 211 (my translation) Compare Aesthetic Theory, trans Christian Lenhardt (London, 1984), 202–3Google Scholar

12 Adorno, ‘Über das gegenwärtige Verhältnis von Philosophie und Musik’, GS, xviii (1984), 154–5 (my translation)Google Scholar

13 See note 7 above for an account of Max Weber's concept of rationalizationGoogle Scholar

14 ‘Adorno's discussion of mimesis takes its starting-point from a biological context He considers mimicry to be a prehistorical or zoological version of mimesis’ Cahn, Michael, ‘Subversive Mimesis T W Adorno and the Western Impasse of Critique’, Mimesis in Contemporary Theory, i, ed. Mihai Spariosu (Philadelphia and Amsterdam, 1984), 27–64 (p 33)Google Scholar

15 The term ‘Subject’ refers here to the Subject/Object relation of German Idealist philosophy Within this tradition the relation between Subject and Object is seen as dialectical the Subject partakes of objectivity and the Object of subjectivity In relation to music, the expressive Subject can be understood as the composer or performer, and the Object, as ‘previous objectifications’ of the expressive Subject, can be understood as the handed-down musical materialGoogle Scholar

16 Adorno, In Search of Wagner, trans Rodney Livingstone (London, 1981), 34–5 (translation modified) See original German, Versuch über Wagner (1952), GS, xiii (1971), 32Google Scholar

17 Dahlhaus, Carl, Foundations of Music History (1967), trans J Bradford Robinson (Cambridge, 1983), 149Google Scholar

18 ‘Adorno's notion of authenticity is founded on the idea of appropriate responses to the changing historically and socially mediated demands of the material of art It thus at the same time operates as a critique of those ahistorical notions of authenticity which are based on ideas of unmediated “pure being” [Sein] or ultimate origins ’ Paddison, ‘Adorno's Aesthetic Theory’, 366Google Scholar

19 Adorno, In Search of Wagner, 48 See original German, GS xiii (1971), 46Google Scholar

20 Adorno, Mahler Erne musikalische Physiognomik (1960), GS, xiii (1971), 193–4 (my translation).Google Scholar

21 See Theodor W Adorno and Ernst Krenek, Briefwechsel, ed Wolfgang Rogge (Frankfurt am Main, 1974)Google Scholar

22 See Hindemith, Paul, Unterweisung im Tonsatz, i Theoretischer Teil (Mainz, 1937), translated as The Craft of Musical Composition, i Theoretical Part, trans Arthur Mendel (London, New York and Mainz, 1942) See also Adorno's critique of Hindemith in ‘Ad vocem Hindemith Eine Dokumentation’, Impromptus (1968), GS, xvii (1982), 210–46Google Scholar

23 Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 288 See original German, GS, vii (1970), 300Google Scholar

24 In referring to Adorno's writings from the 1920s and early 1930s, for example, Michael de la Fontaine comments that ‘[t]he focus on Schoenberg is at this period already so strong that “material” in fact really means only that which prepared the way for dodecaphony’ (de la Fontaine, ‘Der Begriff der künstlerischen Erfahrung bei Theodor W. Adorno’, Ph D dissertation, J W Goethe-Umversität, Frankfurt am Main, 1977, 65, my translation) Lambert Zuidervaart considers that ‘Adorno's concept of musical material holds less promise for the historiography and sociology of music in general than for one particular philosophy of some modern music [i e. the Second Viennese School]’ (Zuidervaart, ‘Refractions Truth in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory’, Ph D. dissertation, Vrije Universiteit te Amsterdam, 1981, 33) And Carl Dahlhaus suggests that ‘one of the basic patterns of his [Adorno's] philosophy of history is to reconstrue aesthetic norms into historical trends to form a basis for a pre-history of the twelve-tone technique’ (Dahlhaus, Foundations of Music History (1967), trans Robinson, 31)Google Scholar

25 Peter Bürger, in his article ‘Das Vermittlungsproblem in der Kunstsoziologie Adornos’ (Materialien zur asthetischen Theorie Th W Adornos Konstruktion der Moderne, ed Burkhardt Lindner and W Martin Lüdke, Frankfurt am Main, 1979, 169–86), cites the following passage from Juri Tynyanov: ‘The originality of a literary work consists in the application of a constructional factor to a material, in the “formation” (in fact, in the “de-formation”) of this material. It is to be understood that “material” and “form” are throughout not opposed to one another, that material is itself “formal”, for there is no material apart from construction’ (p 184; my translation)Google Scholar

26 Adorno, ‘On the Problem of Musical Analysis’, trans and introduced by Max Paddison, Music Analysis, 1 (1982), 169–87 (p 185)Google Scholar

27 Ibid.Google Scholar

28 See Adorno, , Berg Der Meister des kleinsten Ubergangs (1968), GS, xiii (1971).Google Scholar

29 Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 204 (translation modified) See original German, GS, vii (1970), 212.Google Scholar

30 Adorno, ‘On the Social Situation of Music’, trans Wesley Blornster, Telos, 35 (1978) 128–64 (p 128) See original German, ‘Zur gesellschaftlichen Lage der Musik’ (1932), GS, xviii (1984), 729–77Google Scholar

31 Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 359. See original German, GS, vii (1970), 376Google Scholar

32 Adorno, ‘Fragment über Musik und Sprache’ (1956), Klangfiguren, GS, xvi (1978), 255–6 (my translation)Google Scholar

33 See Paddison, Max, ‘The Critique Criticised Adorno and Popular Music’, Popular Music 2 Theory and Method, ed Richard Middleton and David Horn (Cambridge, 1982), 201–18 (p. 215).Google Scholar

34 Samuel Beckett, cited in Deirdre Bair, Samuel Beckett A Biography (London, 1978; repr 1980), 441–2Google Scholar