Notes to pp. 115–122 51321 Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich, ‘Wie kompositorische Praxis in Sprachkunst
übergeht’, p. 139; Martin Hufner, Adorno und die Zwölftontechnik, p. 53ff.
22 See Lucia Sziborsky, Adornos Musikphilosophie, p. 91ff.
23 This rationalization thesis is in tune with a major finding of the failed
Habilitation dissertation. Its aim had been to make a contribution to
‘demystifying the unconscious’. Adorno’s criticism here is in harmony with
that goal. Its target was the idea (defended above all by Ernst Krenek) of
representing atonality as a ‘fact of nature’, or even as ‘primal meaning’. In
opposition to this, Adorno insisted that twelve-tone technique, as a method
of composition consisting of twelve interrelated notes, rendered possible
the rationalization and hence the demythologization of all irrational
elements in music.
24 Adorno, ‘Zur Zwölftontechnik musikalischer Aphorismen’, GS, vol. 18,
pp. 16 and 364.
25 Adorno and Krenek, Briefwechsel, p. 8.; see also Ernst Krenek, Im Atem der
Zeit: Erinnerungen an die Moderne, pp. 474 and 728ff. In his autobiography
in diary form, Krenek observes that during his first meetings with Adorno he
‘was struck by his frequent praise of surrealism’. ‘In general, his discourse
was full of melancholic allusions pointing to the crumbling of all traditional
values. One of his favourite expressions was “crumbling substance”, and he
used it so often that we ended up joking about it’ (ibid., p. 729).
26 See Adorno, Frankfurter Opern- und Konzertkritiken, GS, vol. 19, p. 117ff.
27 See Krenek and Adorno, ‘Arbeitsprobleme des Komponisten’, Adorno,
GS, vol. 19, p. 437.
28 Ibid., p. 438.
29 Adorno and Krenek, Briefwechsel, p. 12f.
30 Ibid., p. 13f.
31 Ibid., pp. 53 and 55.
Chapter 9 Towards a Theory of Aesthetics1 Krenek’s articles were ‘Freiheit und Technik’ and ‘Fortschritt und
Reaktion’; Adorno’s were entitled ‘Zur Zwölftontechnik’ and ‘Reaktion
und Fortschritt’.
2 See the letters from Oscar Alexander Wiesengrund to Adorno on 3 and
13 May 1929, Theodor W. Adorno Archive, Frankfurt am Main.
3 Adorno and Berg, Briefwechsel 1925–1935, pp. 209f. and 214.
4 Ibid., p. 351ff.
5 Ibid., p. 229.
6 Ibid., p. 239f.
7 Asja Lacis (1891–1979) studied theatre and film in Moscow, where she was
also an active member of the Communist Party. She had met Benjamin in
Capri early in 1924. It was because of her influence that Benjamin came to
concern himself with the writings of Marx and with historical materialism.
See Marbacher Magazin, ‘Walter Benjamin 1892–1940’, p. 161ff.
8 Adorno, Erinnerungen, GS, vol. 20.1, p. 175. Adorno had first met Benjamin
in Frankfurt and then, in 1925, in Naples. They did not have a deeper
exchange of ideas until February 1928, when Adorno spent some weeks in
Berlin. It was during this time that Benjamin first met Gretel Karplus.