The Schoenberg Phenomenon: Twelve-tone Music and its Absolute Alienation

Year 2016, Issue: 14, 75 - 96, 01.09.2016

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Abstract

The Schoenberg Phenomenon: Twelve-tone Music and its Absolute Alienation

Abstract

Through Adorno’s analysis, Schoenberg was an important figure representing aspects of musical modernism but at the same time, Adorno dramatically opposed it in many aspects of his music. Although he has a highly negative view of the “Schoenberg phenomenon”, he discovers there is an important change in Schoenberg’s works in the manner in which the composer relates to his material. This paper will attempt to deal with various aspects of Adorno’s criticism of the “Schoenberg phenomenon” based on his article “Schoenberg and Progress”.2 It will address two issues: on the one hand, the twelve-tone technique and, its organisation and on the other, the attitude towards society of this new language of music. These issues concern the problem of “absolute alienation”

Keywords

Adorno, Schoenberg, Twelve-Tone Music, Atonality, Alienation.

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