Beethoven: The Philosophy of Music / Edition 1

by Theodor W. Adorno

Overview

Beethoven is a classic study of the composer's music, written by one of the most important thinkers of our time. Throughout his life, Adorno wrote extensive notes, essay fragments and aides-memoires on the subject of Beethoven's music. This book brings together all of Beethoven's music in relation to the society in which he lived.

Adorno identifies three periods in Beethoven's work, arguing that the thematic unity of the first and second periods begins to break down in the third. Adorno follows this progressive disintegration of organic unity in the classical music of Beethoven and his contemporaries, linking it with the rationality and monopolistic nature of modern society.

Beethoven will be welcomed by students and researchers in a wide range of disciplines - philosophy, sociology, music and history - and by anyone interested in the life of the composer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745630458
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	09/10/2002
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), a prominent member of the Frankfurt School, was one of the most influential thinkers of this century in the areas of social theory, philosophy and aesthetics.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface.

1. Prelude.

2. Music and Concept.

3. Society.

4. Tonality.

5. Form and the Reconstruction of Form.

6. Critique.

7. Early and 'Classical' Phases.

8. Vers une analyse des symphonies. .

9. Late Style (I).

10. Late Work without Late Style.

11. Late Style (II).

12. Humanity and Demythologization.

Appendix.

Abbreviations.

Editor's Notes.

Editorial Afterword.

Comparative Table of Fragments.

Thematic Summary of Contents.

Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"Great works of art, Adorno knew, always resist the attempt tosubsume them under theoretical categories. In the case of a supremeartist like Beethoven, a lifetime of futile efforts by Adorno tocomplete a major philosophical study bore ironic witness to thisinsight. The struggle to write his impossible book left behind,however, a wealth of tantalizing fragments, which have the addedvalue of revealing Adorno's own process of intellectual production.Masterfully reconstructed and annotated by Rolf Tiedemann, they arenow available in Edmund Jephcott's elegant translation. In theirvery "failure" they demonstrate the abiding power of Adorno's claimthat the dialectic of art and philosophy must remain unreconciledand negative." Martin Jay, University of California,Berkeley

"These fragments shed valuable light not only on Adorno's thinkingon Beethoven, but also equally importantly on the sources ofAdorno's philosophy of music. Rolf Tiedemann's sensitive editinghas produced a remarkably coherent volume out of the most disparatematerial, while Edmund Jephcott's translation rises magnificentlyto a difficult task." Max Paddison, University of Durham

From the Publisher