A THESIS PROPOSAL BY BRIAN MILLIGAN

THEODOR ADORNO AND ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG

So modern music has a philosophy - it would be enough if it had a philosopher. He attacks me quite vehemently in it. Another disloyal person . . . I have never been able to bear the fellow {Adorno} . . . now I know that he has clearly never liked my music . . . [Philosophy of Modern Music] is very difficult to read for it uses this quasi-philosophical jargon in which modern professors of philosophy hide the absence of an idea . . . naturally he knows all about twelve-tone music but he has no idea of the creative processes . . . He seems to believe that the twelve tone row - if it doesn't hinder thought, hinders invention - the poor fellow. The book will give many of my enemies a handle, especially because it is so scientifically done.

Arnold Schönberg (1949)

The relationship between Adorno and Schönberg is a complex and interesting one. Although the two men never did have much patience for each other personally (and often exchanged heated words in each other's company), Schönberg's influence on Adorno was profound. He had met Schönberg and Alban Berg in Vienna at the age of 22, and quickly became an active composer of the Second Viennese School. Although he continued to compose throughout most of his life, his compositions were always far overshadowed by his academic works in philosophy, sociology, and music criticism But the influence of The Second Viennese School made a huge impact on all of his later works. As Jay Martien notes, Adorno had "an ‘atonal philosophy' deeply indebted to the compositional techniques of the Schönberg school." This relationship between the two men has the potential to be explored further - especially in terms of comparing their particular approaches to the music of that particular period.

Although Adorno's works have been well-received in Germany since his death in 1969, it is only recently that they have been given serious consideration in North American musicology - for many years, he was more or less dismissed as nothing more than an elitist, Marxist snob. The main focus in most North American commentaries on Adorno has been his (seemingly) polemical opinions on mass culture, and especially his articles on Jazz and popular music, which have earned a notorious reputation that is not entirely undeserved. However, recent musicological concerns with ideology and sociology in music have brought about more comprehensive critiques of Adorno's work. Two of the most instrumental musicologists in this respect are Rose Subotnik and (most recently) Max Paddison. As Subotnik illustrates in the introduction to Developing Variations, the most startling aspect of Adorno's work is not the connections he drew between the structure of music and socially determined meanings (though this in itself was quite unusual at that particular time), but that his works demonstrate such an explicit and blatant political viewpoint. There are two basic components to this that must be considered: First as a philosopher and more specifically a member of the Frankfurt School, Adorno was involved in the development of a critical theory that took many of its precepts from Marxism. In a series of lectures he gave at Frankfurt University during 1967-8 he expanded on the purpose of this theory as it pertained to the aesthetics of art. Its purpose was twofold: 1) to interpret the work of art, both in terms of "immanent analysis" and in terms of the relation to society; and 2) to develop the concept of understanding itself in relation to art works. In this respect, the methods used to criticise music becomes as much the object of criticism as does the music work itself.

Secondly, as a musician and composer of the Second Viennese School, Adorno was a member, contributor, and a propagator of an avant-garde artistic movement. After being overwhelmed at a performance of Wozzeck he began studying composition with Alban Berg in 1925. The significance he afforded to Schönberg is central in his writings on music, as Gillian Rose indicates:

[In comparison to other composers] Adorno devoted most attention to Schönberg's work. He saw in the evolution of Schönberg's music from free atonality to the twelve-tone system a change from a music which challenged most radically the norms of intelligibility in both composing and listening to a music which attempted to found itself on a new orthodoxy and escape the destructive estrangement of its initial challenge.

Adorno's "atonal philosophy" is, as mentioned before, directly related to the Viennese atonal music composition. And the fact that Adorno was involved with a specific artistic practice not only as a critic but as a composer is significant in a crucial way. The purpose of this thesis then is to critically examine the relationship between Schönberg and Adorno - in biographical, theoretical and musicological terms - in order to further reflect on the nature of Adorno's "atonal philosophy" and to examine the extent to which this "philosophy" demonstrates a kinship with the music of the Second Viennese School. The thesis would consist of three main sections or applications (any chapter may be split into multiple sections if the space is needed):

Part One will be a general examination of the foundations Adorno's aesthetic/critical theory - this will be accomplished by examining several texts (Section A in the Bibliography) in both their historical contexts, and in terms of how the texts relate to each other. Criticisms of Adorno's work by Middleton, Subotnik, Deliège, Craft, Gracyk, and others will be examined as well.

Part Two will be an in-depth comparison and analysis of the relationship between Adorno's Aesthetic theories and Schönberg's compositional theories. In particular, the relationship between Adorno's "musical material" and Schönberg's concept of "developing variation." will be a central part of this examination. This would be accomplished predominantly by a comparison of the texts listed in the bibliography sections A&B.

Part Three will look at specific examples of Adorno's analysis of Schönberg's music and in this light try to make some conclusions as to the social-political affects of the music of the second Viennese School.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Section A: Primary Sources by Theodor Weisengrund-Adorno:

Äesthetische Theorie (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1970). [Aesthetic Theory. Ed. Gretel Adorno and Rolf Tiedemann and trans. Robert Hullot-Kentor. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997]

Berg; der Meister des Kleinsten Übergangs (Wien, Lafite, Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1968). [Alban Berg: Master of the Smallest Link. Trans. Juliane Brand and Christopher

Hailey. Cambridge 1991]

Dialektik der Aufklarung; philosophische Fragmente (mit Max Horkheimer. Amsterdam, Querido, 1947). [(with Max Horkheimer) The Dialectic of Enlightenment. Trans. John Cumming. (New York: Herder and Herder, 1972).]

.Minima Moralia; Reflexionen aus dem beschadigten (Berlin, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1951). [Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life. Trans. E.F.N. Jephcott. London: Verso, 1974]

Philosophy der Neuen Musik (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1975). [Philosophy of Modern Music. Trans. Anne G. Mitchell and Wesley V. Blomster. New York: Seabury Press, 1973]

Section B: Primary Sources by Arnold Schönberg:

Letters. Ed. Erwin Stein. Trans. Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser (London: Faber & Faber, 1964).

Fundamentals of Music Composition. Ed. Gerald Strang and Leonard Stein (London: Faber & Faber, 1982).

The Musical Idea and the Logic, Technique, and Art of its Presentation. Ed. and Trans. Patricia Carpenter and Severine Neff (New York : Columbia University Press, 1995).

"My Evolution." Reprinted in The Musical Quarterly 75 (1991): 144-57.

Structual Functions of Harmony. Ed. Leonard Stein. Rev. ed. (New York: Norton, 1968).

Style and Idea: Selectd Writings of Arnold Schönberg. Ed. Leonard Stein. Trans. Leo Black (London: Faber & Faber, 1975).

Section C: Secondary Sources on Arnold Schönberg:

Berg, Alban. "Why is Schönberg's Music So Difficult to Understand?" Reprinted in Willi Reich. Alban Berg. Trans. Cornelius Cardew (London: Thames & Hudson, 1965).

Boretz, Benjamin and Edward Cone, eds. Perspectives on Schönberg & Stravinsky (New York: Norton, 1972).

Burkholder, J. P. "Musical Time and Continuity as a Reflection of the Historical Situation of Modern Composers." The Journal of Musicology 9 (1991): 412-29.

Cone, Edward T. "Sound and Syntax: An Introduction to Schönberg's Harmony." Perspectives of New Music 13 (1974): 21-45.

Covach, J. "Theomusicology: Western Classical Tradition: The Quest of the Absolute: Schoenberg, Hauer, and the Twelve-Tone Idea." Black Sacred Music 8 (1994): 157-77.

Franklin, Peter. The Idea of Music: Schoenberg and Others (London: Macmillan, 1985).

Dahlhaus, Carl. Schönberg and the New Music. Trans. Derrick Puffet and Alfred Clayton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

Göhr, Alexander. "The Theoretical Writings of Arnold Schönberg." Perpectives of New Music 13 (1975): 3-27.

. "Schönberg and Karl Kraus: The Idea Behind the Music." Music Analysis 4 (1985): 59-86.

Lessem, Alan Phillip. Music and Text in the Works of Arnold Schönberg: The Critical Years 1908-1922 (Ann Arbor, Mich: UMI Research Press, 1982).

Leibowitz, René. Schoenberg and His School: The Contemporary Stage of the Language of Music. Trans. Dika Newlin (New York: Da Capo Press, 1949).

Lewis, Christopher. "Mirrors and Metaphors: Reflections on Schönberg and Nineteenth Century Tonality." 19th Century Music 11 (1987): 26-58.

Perle, George. Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. 6th rev. ed. (California: University of California Press, 1991).

Phipps, G. H. "Comprehending Twelve-tone Music as an Extension of the Primary Musical Language of Tonality." College Music Symposium 24 (1984): 35-54.

Ringer, Alexander L. Arnold Schoenberg-- The Composer as Jew (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990).

Rosen, Charles. Arnold Schönberg (Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1981).

Smith, Joan Allen. Schoenberg and His Circle: A Viennese Portrait (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986).

Stuckenschmidt, Hans H. Arnold Schönberg: His Life, World and Work. Trans. Humphrey Searle (London: Calder, 1977).

Section D: Secondary Sources on Theodor Weisengrund-Adorno:

Arato, Andrew, ed. The Essential Frankfurt School Reader (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1978).

Berman, Russel. "Adorno, Marxism and Art." Telos 34 (Winter 1977-8): 157-66.

Bloomfield. T. "Resisting Songs: Negative Dialectics in Pop." Popular Music 12 (1993): 13-31.

Bloomster, Wesley. "Sociology of Music: Adorno and Beyond." Telos 28 (1976): 15-31.

Buck-Morss, Susan. The Origin of Negetive Dialectics: Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and the Frankfurt Institute (Sussex: Harvester Press, 1977).

Bürger, Christa. "Expression and Construction: Adorno and Thomas Mann." In Thinking Art: Beyond Traditional Aesthetic, ed. Andrew Benjamn and Peter Osbourne (London: ICA, 1991).

Dahlhaus, Carl. "Adornos Begriff des musikalischen Materials." In Zur Terminologie der Musik des 20 Jahrhunderts: Bericht über das zweite Kolloquium, ed. H. H. Eggebrecht (Stuttgart, 1974): 9-21.

Dallmyr, Helmut. "Phenomenology and Critical Theory: Adorno." Cultural Hermeneutics 3 (1976): 367-405.

Deliège, Célestin. "Stravinsky: Ideology & Language." Perspectives of New Music 26 (Winter 1988): 82-106.

Dineen. M. "Adorno and Schoenberg's Unanswered Question." The Musical Quarterly 77 (1993): 415-27.

Edgar A. "An Introduction to Adorno's Aesthetics." The British Journal of Aesthetics 30 (1990): 46-56.

Feher, Ferenc. Negetive Philosophy of Music -- Positive Results." New German Critique 4 (Winter 1975): 99-111.

Fontaine, Micheal de la. "Kunstlerische Erfahrung bei Arnold Schönberg. Zur Dialectik des Musicalischen Materials." In Materialien zur ästhetischen Theorie Th. W. Adornos Konstuction der Moderne, ed. Burkhardt Lindner and W. Martin Lüdke (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1979): 467-93.

Gracyk, T. A. "Adorno, Jazz, and the Aesthetics of Popular Music." The Musical Quarterly 76 (1992): 526-42.

Hamilton C. V. "All that Jazz Again: Adorno's Sociology of Music." Popular Music and Society 15 (1991): 31-40.

Harding, J. M. "Historical Dialectics and the Autonomy of Art in Adorno's Aesthetische

Theorie." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 50 (1992): 183-95.

Hohendahl, Peter Uwe. "Autonomy of Art: Looking Back at Adorno's ‘Aesthetic Theory'." The German Quarterly 54 (1981): 133-48.

Honneth, Axel. "Foucault and Adorno: Two Forms of the Critique of Modernity." Trans. David Roberts. Thesis Eleven 15 (1986): 48-59.

Huyssen, Andreas. "Adorno in Reverse: From Hollywood to Richard Wagner." New German Critique 29 (Spring/Summer 1983): 8-38.

Jay, Martin. The Dialectial Imagination: History of the Fankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research 1923 -1950 (London: Heinemann, 1973).

. Adorno (London: Fontana/Collins, 1984).

Leibowitz, Renè. "Der Komponist Theodor Adorno." In Zeugnisse: Theodor W. Adorno zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. Max Horcheimer (Frankfurt/ Main: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 1963): 355-9.

Metzger, Heinz-Klaus. "Adorno und die Geschichte der musikalischen Avantgarde." In Adorno und die Musik, ed.Otto Kolleritsch (Graz: Universal Edition, 1979): 9-14.

Miles, Steven. "Critics of Disenchantment." Notes 152 (1995): 11-38.

Middleton, Richard. Studying Popular Music. (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1990).

Mitchell Culver, Anne G. "Theodor Adorno's Philosophy of Modern Music: Evaluation and Commentary" (diss. University of Colorado, 1973).

Paddison, Max. "The Critique Criticised Adorno and popular Music." In Popular Music 2: Theory and Method, ed. Richard Middleton and David Horn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982): 201-18.

. "Adorno's Aesthetic Theory." Music Analysis 6 (October 1987): 355-77.

. "The Language-character of Music: Some Motifs of Adorno." Journal of the Royal Music Association 116 (1991): 267-79.

. Adorno's Aesthetics of Music. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

. Adorno, Moderism and Mass Culture (London: Kahn and Averil, 1996).

Reif, J. "Adrian Leverkuehn, Arnold Schoenberg, Theodor Adorno: Theorists Real and

Fictitious in Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus." Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute 7 (1983): 102-12.

Rose, Gillian. The Melancholy Science: An Introduction to the Thought of Theodor W. Adorno (London: Macmillan, 1978).

Subotnik, Rose Rosengard. Developing Variaions (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991).

. Deconstructive Varitations (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996).

Zabel, G. "Adorno on Music: A Reconsideration." The Musical Times 130 (Apr 1989): 198-20.

Section E: Musical Sources:

Schönberg, Arnold. Sämtliche Werke (Mainz: B. Schott, 1966).