his life time, or the developments made in jazz mentioned previously.
This argument may assume that he would have heard the Beatles, yet
it’s apparent that Adorno supports and defames as he chooses with the
pretence of rejecting society – Adorno wears a mask, just as Stravinsky
and jazz do.
In conclusion, Adorno believes that only music which is most resistant
to the world, such as that of Schoenberg, can cleanse us. But how
can Adorno analyse classical, popular and modernist music – or even
society in general - with true omnipotence (as sometimes comes
across as his intention) when he is of this world and is a product of the
society he criticises. To his credit, Adorno does recognise this in the
introduction of Dialect of Enlightenment, commenting that it is difficult
to construct a criticism of thinking whilst using a language shaped by
such thinking (Horkheimer & Adorno, 2002). But his recognition does
not distance the fact that the language he speaks, the things he buys
and the music he listens to shape Adorno as another primitive creation
of the society he seems to despise. He writes as if he is above us, yet
he is one of us, as there is no way he can be impartial. The radical
character of Adorno’s thought only goes further in serving the interests
of the status quo (Paddison, 1996, 109). By stating his views, Adorno
has created a new form of elitism in those who recognise this fetishism
and regression in the various styles of music. Our awareness makes us
better, according to Adorno, but it also makes us despise one another,
potentially even ourselves. And so, Adorno may have made his judgment
on the fetishised nature of classical and popular, but whether he has the
right to, or whether it is for the better, remains uncertain.
References
Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (2002). Dialectic of enlightenment. Redwood:
Stanford University Press.
Adorno, T., Leppert, R. and Gillespie, S. (2002). Essays on music. Berkeley,
Calif.: University of California Press.
Briccetti, R. (2010). On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of
Listening. Available: https://as.vanderbilt.edu/koepnick/AestheticNegativity_
f06/materials/thoughtpapers/briccetti_adorno.htm.
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