Essays on Music [Paperback]

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), one of the principal figures associated with the Frankfurt School, wrote extensively on culture, modernity, aesthetics, literature, andmore than any other subjectmusic. 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.

Richard Leppertis Samuel Russell Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota. His previous books includeArt and the Committed Eye: The Cultural Functions of Imagery(1996) andThe Sight of Sound: Music, Representation, and the History of the Body(California, 1993).

Preface and Acknowledgments
Translator's Note
Abbreviations
Introduction (by Richard Leppert)

1. LOCATING MUSIC: SOCIETY, MODERNITY, AND THE NEW
Commentary (by Richard Leppert)
Music, Language, and Composition (1956)
Why Is the New Art So Hard to Understand? (1931)
On the Contemporary Relationship of Philosophy and Music (1953)
On the Problem of Musical Analysis
The Aging of the New Music (1955)
The Dialectical Composer (1934)

2. CULTURE, TECHNOLOGY, AND LISTENING
Commentary (by Richard Leppert)
The Radio Symphony (1941)
The Curves of the Neddle (1927/1965)
The Form of the Phonograph Record
Opera and the Long-Playing Relc0