Suchergebnisse

Grabs, Manfred, ed. A Rebel in Music: Selected Writings. Berlin: Seven Seas, 1978. 223 p. Schebera, Jürgen. Hanns Eisler im USA-Exil. Zu den politischen, ästhetischen und kompositorischen Positionen des Komponisten 1938 bis 1948. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1978. 234 p. Grabs, Manfred. Hanns Eisler--Werk und Edition. Eine Dokumentation. (Arbeitsheft 28). Berlin: Akademie der Künste der DDR, 1978. 110 p. + 60 plates.

An introduction to two essays by T. Adorno (abstracted elsewhere in this issue): 'On the Social Situation of Music' (first published in Zeitschrift fur Sozialforschung, 1932, 103-124 & 356-378), & 'Resignation' (first published in Politik, Wissenschaft, Erziehung. Festschrift fur Ernst Schutte [Politics, Science, Education. Homage to Ernst Schutte], Frankfurt, 1969). 'On the Social Situation of Music' was Adorno's first significant contribution to this area; his later rejection of this essay is discussed. The interests of various sociologists of music in Adorno's article are noted. 'Resignation' was written in the last year of Adorno's life & stands in contrast to his first treatise on music. A. Rubins.

W. Benjamin's concept of the authenticity of art ("The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Zeitschrift fur Sozialforschung, 1936, 5), involving as it does the presence of the original, seems inapplicable to traditional music, since this depends on performance or recreation of the composer's intent. However, T. Adorno has suggested that contemporary music is heading in a direction in which the score itself is the absolute realization of the artistic endeavor. Thus, electronic music may allow the merging of true spirit & sensual realization. This has occurred since the modern composer has near absolute control over both material & technique. In electronic music composition, the notation is bypassed, thus merging production & reproduction, & eliminating interpretation. A work is created that has only one realization. Electronic music is, through this merging, able to evade the question of live vs recorded performance, thus liberating itself from the trappings of ritual & cult, & therefore disallowing manipulation. Some possible social functions of electronic music are discussed in relation to politics. M. Migalski.