1) What is “kitsch” and how does it relate to the Avant-garde?
2) What is “false consciousness” and how does one discover its symptoms in new music.
3) How does Adorno counter the accusation of “intellectualism” in New Music?
4) Wild Card: Write your own question here.
1. What is “kitsch” and how does it relate to the Avant-garde
The term kitsch (popularized by Adorno, Hermann Broch, and Clement Greenberg in the 1930s) is applied to artistic works which are identified by those qualities which make them widely accessible: easy to understand, entertaining, pleasant, and (while mass-produced and homogenized) present some form of novelty (if only in pretense.) Products taken to be “kitschy” often have a character of sentimentalism for the past, including qualities that are clichéd or “tried and tested to work” applied formulaically to produce immediate appeal. Adorno writes: “Kitsch has the character of a model. It offers the outline and draft of objectively compelling, pre-established forms that have lost their content in history.”[1]
If this is to be understood, then no feature of music can be kitschy of itself, but by its context. To use an example observed in Adorno’s own writing, “the shabbiness and exhaustion of the diminished seventh chord[s]… in the salon music of the nineteenth century… are antiquated and untimely… They no longer fulfill their function,”[2] whereas “the diminished seventh chord, which rings false in salon pieces, is correct and full of every possible expression at the beginning of Beethoven’s Sonata [opus 111]”[3]
Kitsch contrasted the notion of the avant-garde which defined art perceived as challenging, which attempted to redefine or push the boundaries of its tradition and promoted radical social reforms. To avant-gardists the popularity of kitsch was seen as a threat to culture. Alexis de Tocqueville, analyzing the effects of the progress of society on the arts, stated that “the number of consumers increases, but opulent fastidious consumers become more scarce” and as a consequences the standards of creativity fall. In other words, because people with poor taste could now afford to consume and patronize art, market forces compelled a lowering of its quality while artists were “induced to produce with great rapidity a quantity of imperfect commodities.” [4]
Adorno held sympathy with this view. He believed that the “the culture industry,” the supply and demand of art in response to market forces, not only promoted a poor quality of art to a passive population which accepted it uncritically, but created an alienated population which was passive and uncritical enough to accept such a poor quality of art. “People want to have fun. A fully concentrated and conscious experience of art is possible only to those whose lives do not put such a strain on them that in their spare time they want relief from both boredom and effort simultaneously.”[5] Kitchy art was that to be consumed as a form of distraction and catharsis which rapidly aroused the emotions but was not too demanding, appealing only to the immediate passions rather than good taste.
7. What is “false consciousness” and how does one discover its symptoms in New Music?
The term false consciousness is applied by Marxists to those who produce what Marx and Engels referred to as ideology, “self-styled radical writers who think their ‘world-shattering’ statements will transform the consciousness of their audience… deluded not only in their political reasoning, but also about its effects.” [6] While ideologies constitute distorted beliefs which individuals hold on society they are legitimated false consciousness. False consciousness may now be perceived as a form of Freudian post-fact rationalization: An unconscious defense mechanism in which opinions, behaviors and feelings perceived as controversial are given seemingly plausible justifications in avoidance of true explanations which may be consciously intolerable. Marxist Philosopher Georg Lukács wrote: “The irrational structure of capitalist society produces the need for theories to explain and justify the confusion and madness that appears on its surface… exchange relations and thus commodity fetishism come to dominate and define more and more of human interaction within capitalist society.” [7]
The term false consciousness is applied by Marxists to those who produce what Marx and Engels referred to as ideology, “self-styled radical writers who think their ‘world-shattering’ statements will transform the consciousness of their audience… deluded not only in their political reasoning, but also about its effects.” [6] While ideologies constitute distorted beliefs which individuals hold on society they are legitimated false consciousness. False consciousness may now be perceived as a form of Freudian post-fact rationalization: An unconscious defense mechanism in which opinions, behaviors and feelings perceived as controversial are given seemingly plausible justifications in avoidance of true explanations which may be consciously intolerable. Marxist Philosopher Georg Lukács wrote: “The irrational structure of capitalist society produces the need for theories to explain and justify the confusion and madness that appears on its surface… exchange relations and thus commodity fetishism come to dominate and define more and more of human interaction within capitalist society.” [7]
The Frankfurt school took a serious interest in how false consciousness was generated and edified into social cement and Adorno attempted to apply their findings to the music listener. He felt that largely the music which was most often heard was considered to be the most enjoyable if only by virtue of relative acquaintance, "One cannot avoid the suspicion that liking and disliking are inappropriate to the situation... the familiarity of the piece is a surrogate for the quality ascribed to it." [8]
In On Popular Music Adorno asserts that market competition created false musical standards: a hit tune would be copied by song-writers for commercial success, and while trends in music might change, familiar structures such as 32-bar choruses and verse/chorus structures would edify and become “frozen.” [9] Those who had the ability to listen and analyze music properly would easily identify the homogeneity of these hits, but the average listener take these structures almost as law, a product of a Musical False Consciousness.
Adorno saw little distinction between how the pop hit and ‘official “classical” music’ were received, “[the differences] no longer have any real significance… they are only still manipulated for reasons of marketability.” [10] In both popular music and that ‘serious music’[11] which was popular, the public wanted only music’s “crudest aspects: easily remembered themes; ominously beautiful passages, moods and associations.”[12] One such association Adorno took objection to was Toscanini being paraded like a pop star. He was given the affectionate pet name “Maestro” in order to compel audiences to be wowed by his identity, which bore no relation to the quality of the music he conducted.[13] “The star principle has become totalitarian… The consumer is really worshipping the money that he has… paid for the Toscanini concert.”[14]
The romanticisation of “unfinished” symphonies (such as Schubert’s 8th) was also condemned by Adorno as the fetishistic commodification[15] of music, another example of false musical consciousness. Simply by virtue of being unfinished these pieces were supposed to attain some magical quality which made them extra special.[16] While there is no particular reason to think an unfinished symphony is superior to a finished one, categorizing it as such adds to its fungibility.
Adorno argued that while the public might perceive the work of Schoenberg to be impenetrable compared to that of Beethoven, this was an illusion of false consciousness. He stated that in order to truly appreciate the significance of (or “adequately listen” to) Beethoven’s work one required far greater technical knowledge of music, while the new music was to be judged only by its own immanent parameters. “Whoever wants to judge music must look the unique questions and antagonisms of the individual work straight in the eye without having any general theory of music or any music history to instruct him.” [17]
10. How does Adorno counter the accusation of “intellectualism” in New Music?
To charge that New Music is guilty of Intellectualism is to say that new music is not art of a creative impulse but merely a technical one, more similar to mathematics than poetry. “The claim that new music springs from the head, not from the heart or the ear… but only worked out on paper.” [18]
Adorno’s overarching view is that this criticism comes from the false assumption that tonality is the “natural” and inherent medium of all expressive music, thus to go beyond tonality is to go against the proper nature of music.[19] This false assumption is the product of a historical economic bias towards tonal music, but ironically the same force of history compelled the new music to emerge as a natural extension of the development of tonal music through its previous stages.[20] “What is truly being lamented is not a degree of decadence that could be healed through some kind of organization-that is, rationality- but rather the shadow of progress.” [21] Schoenberg’s melodrama Pierrot Lunaire and Berg’s opera Lulu are held by Adorno as transcendent examples of heart-felt new music surpassing the quality in expressivity of most impressionist music, while biases against atonality are denigrated as the consequence of a lack of understanding and aesthetic sophistication, “merely a product of incomprehension.”[22]
Those who call the new music merely intellectualized look for nothing more that “self-surrender” to a flow of music.[23] Adorno calls to mind the music of Tchaikovsky, which he dismisses as popular for its catchy melodies.[24] In a harsh rebuke of the “moderate modernist” composers whose music he finds unchallenging and as such has no taste for, Adorno admonishes that if anyone is to be accused of intellectualism it should be they, for they are “constantly in search of the proper mixture of enticement and banality.” [25] To better understand what Adorno means we should bear in mind his statement in On Popular Music (1941) to the effect that the music industry faces a major dilemma: if the music is not enticing enough people will pay no attention to it and won't sell, whereas if they pay proper attention to it they may no longer accept its poor standard, thus it also requires a degree of banality.[26]
Adorno asserts that great music has always demanded the “alert control” of the listener[27] and suggests that the logic of the new music may be cast in the same light and tradition as an earlier form: the fugue, which, while highly mathematical in nature is favorably regarded for its sophistication and aesthetic quality. The “moderate modernists” are seen to cow-tow to what is popular: the individual and non-contextualized musical moment which is viscerally satisfying, but lacks intellectual depth. On the other hand, the bonafide avant-gardist “obeys the integral laws of musical structure from the single pitch to the drive inherent in the total form, even if-and precisely if-the automatic perception of the individual moments is hindered in so doing.”
12. Using your own example, give some further explanation of Adorno’s view that emphasis should be placed on the whole (or 'concrete totality') of a piece rather than its individual parts in musical composition. What does Adorno want from music?
As we have discussed, Adorno believed the fundamental characteristic of “bad” serious music (and all popular music) is standardization. While bad music puts emphasis on the parts of songs rather than the whole, good music is through-composed and requires of the listener a taste cultivated to enjoy the overall evolution of a piece.
In good music “Every detail derives its musical sense from the concrete totality of the piece,”[28] whereas in bad music “the whole is never altered by the individual event and therefore remains… aloof, imperturbable, and unnoticed throughout the piece.”[29]
Adorno evokes the example of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. He states, with in depth analysis, that the second theme in the piece only gets its “expressive quality” through its context within the entire symphony. For the sake of simplicity allow me to use my own microcosmic example of the principle at work:
In the first two bars of the famous March from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite,[30] the following theme is stated:
Later bars 15 and 16 begin:
While some may assess the second excerpt to be of superior interest to the first, it is undeniable that it would not carry the same significance had we not already heard the first bars played. In Adorno's words, it "derives its musical sense from the concrete totality of the piece."
Adorno wants music that is not only challenging to the listener but engenders within him a critical tendency which can then be applied to the wider society. He says “Structural Standardisation aims at Standard Reaction,” meaning that standardization of music proposes to uniform the population, while the antithesis, immanent formal originality, promotes individuality. [31]
[1] Adorno, T. W. (1932), “Kitsch”, in (2002), “Essays on Music”, translated by Gillespie, S. W., University of California Press, Berkeley And Los Angeles, California, p. 501.
[2] Adorno, T. W. (1948), “Philosophy of Modern Music”, translated by Mitchell, A. G. (1973), Sheed & Ward, London, p. 34.
[3] Ibid, pp. 34-35.
[4] Tocqueville, A. D. (1935-1840), “Democracy in America”, translated by Reeve, H., Sever and Francis, Cambridge, pp. 56-62.
[5] Adorno, T. W. (1941), “On Popular Music” in (1990) “On Record”, edited by Firth, S. and Goodwin, A. (1990), Routledge, London And New York, p. 310.
[6] Eyerman, R. (1981), “False Consciousness and Ideology in Marxist Theory”, Acta Sociologica, Vol. 24, No. 1/2, p45.
[7] Lukács, G. (1927), “History and Class Consciousness”, MIT Press (1972).
[8] Adorno, T. W. (1938), “On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening”, in (2002), “Essays on Music”, translated by Gillespie, S. W., University of California Press, Berkeley And Los Angeles, California, p. 288.
[9] Adorno, T. W. (1941), “On Popular Music” in “On Record” edited by S. Firth and A. Goodwin (1990) Routledge, London And New York, p. 307
[10] Adorno, T. W. (1938), “On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening”, in (2002), “Essays on Music”, translated by Gillespie, S. W., University of California Press, Berkeley And Los Angeles, California, p. 293.
[11] For serious music we may read “classical music” in the broad sense of all art music as this is the term Adono often uses to distinguish it from popular music.
[12] Adorno, T. W. (1949) “Philosophy of New Music” translated by Hullot-Kentor, R. (2006), University of Minestora Press, p12
[13] Adorno, T. W. (1938), “On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening”, in (2002), “Essays on Music”, translated by Gillespie, S. W., University of California Press, Berkeley And Los Angeles, California, p. 293.
[14] Ibid, pp. 293-296.
[15] That is to say, in Marxist (and indeed in Adorno’s) terms, that the product (music) is perceived as more than what in actual fact is, “essentially the expenditure of human brain, nerves, muscles, etc.” Marx, K. (1867-1894) “Das Kapital.”
[16] Adorno, T. W. (1938), “On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening”, in (2002), “Essays on Music”, translated by Gillespie, S. W., University of California Press, Berkeley And Los Angeles, California, pp. 293-294.
[17] Adorno, T. W. (1949) “Philosophy of New Music” translated by Hullot-Kentor, R. (2006), University of Minestora Press, p11
[18] Adorno, T. W. (1949) “Philosophy of New Music” translated by Hullot-Kentor, R. (2006), University of Minestora Press, p13
[19] Ibid, p13
[20] Ibid, p13
[21] Ibid, p15
[22] Ibid, R., p13
[23] Ibid, R., p14
[24] Adorno, T. W. (1948 ) “Philosophy of Modern Music” translated by Mitchell, A. G., (1973), Sheed & Wood, London, p12
[25] Ibid, p12. (I quote the alternative rendering of the same text in this instance for its relative clarity.)
[26] Adorno, T. W. (1941), “On Popular Music” in (1990) “On Record”, edited by Firth, S. and Goodwin, A. (1990), Routledge, London And New York, p. 311
[27] Less flatteringly, I may add, in the words “[Tchaikovsky] portrays despondency with hit tunes.” Adorno, R. W. (1948) “Philosophy of Modern Music” translated by Mitchell, A. G., p12
[28] Adorno, T. W. (1941), “On Popular Music” in (1990) “On Record”, edited by Firth, S. and Goodwin, A., Routledge, London And New York, p. 304
[29] Ibid, p. 304
[30] Adorno would have to forgive me exemplifying the work of a composer he accused of “portraying despondency with hit tunes,” see footnote 24 for reference.
[31] Adorno, T. W. (1941), “On Popular Music” in (1990) “On Record”, edited by Firth, S. and Goodwin, A, Routledge, London And New York, p. 311
