Towards a Theory of Aesthetics 1199
Towards a Theory of Aesthetics
Learning the trade of composition and how to write scores was one
thing. Reflecting on the problems of musical theory and writing about
them was quite another. Adorno had been working on a philosophically
ambitious theory of music with increasing intensity since 1928 at the
latest. It is surprising that, although this topic was touched on in his
correspondence with Alban Berg, it never became the subject of an
extended dialogue between them. And yet they might easily have been
able to exchange ideas about such matters as the ‘concept of musical
material’, the ‘nominalism of serial technique’, or ‘technique and form’.
As it turned out, Ernst Krenek proved to be, if not more competent, at
least more interested in discussing such questions. Not only was he a
contemporary composer, he was also an active commentator on music.
Even before he and Adorno entered into correspondence, both writers
had published articles, in the eleventh and twelfth numbers of the
Musikblätter des Anbruch, in which each referred to the other. This
took place in the months when Adorno essentially had editorial control
of the journal.^1 This series of articles was followed by the controversy
about the problems of composition broadcast by Frankfurt Radio.
This controversy, which was held to be of direct relevance to contem-
porary composers, was, however, just one of the issues with which the
27-year-old Adorno had to grapple. In fact, he was forced to confront
quite different problems, namely those raised by a philosophical theory
of aesthetics. He hoped to be able to define the basic features of such a
theory by engaging with the writings of Kierkegaard. Since his doctoral
dissertation, which had been completed four years previously, and since
the failure of his plans for the Habilitation, philosophical questions had
been forced to take a back seat in favour of his musical activities. Never-
theless, they were never totally extinguished, since Adorno had tried
to develop his theories of music with philosophical issues in mind. It
was precisely this synthesis of music theory and philosophy that ex-
plains why he had attempted to set out a clearly defined position on this
subject, partly in response to criticisms that his writings were incompre-
hensible and that they were couched in an over-complex language. His