The Language-Character of Music
Some Motifs in Adorno
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4408972 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Max Paddison (Dartington Service Design Lab, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 116 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 267-279 |
| Publication date | 1991-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the Royal Musical Association (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0269-0403 • E-ISSN: 1471-6933 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jrma/116.2.267 |
| OpenAlex | W2020793356 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 4 |
Questions concerning Western art music's relation to language can be seen to arise directly from the most fundamental paradox of so-called 'autonomous' or 'absolute' musical works: that they seem to say something, the precise meaning of which remains concealed. It is the aim of this article to explore the 'linguisticality' of autonomous music - its similarity to, and yet difference from, language - through a close reading of certain motifs in the work of T. W. Adorno. Crudely stated, Adorno identifies the fundamental polarity underlying autonomous music's 'language-character' (Sprachcharakter) as that between the internal relations of the hermetically sealed musical work and the external social relations of music's production, reproduction, distribution and consumption. It is the tension between these extremes which generates music's dynamic context or 'complex of meaning' (Sinnzusammenhang). Implicit in the approach taken here, therefore, is the argument that linguistic (or indeed any other) theories applied to music make sense only in the context of a larger cultural theory
Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Character (mathematics) · Context (archaeology) · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential) · Music and emotion · Music history · Musical · Popular music · Reading (process) · Relation (database) · Computer Science · Diverse Musicological Studies · History · Mathematics · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy
Mimésis, géstica e as “origens” da escrita neumática gregoriana em Zu einer Theorie der musikalischen Reproduktion de Adorno (breves notas)
Is Music a Language
A semelhança da música com a linguagem segundo Theodor Adorno
Notes on Adorno’s ‘Musical Material’ During the New Materialisms
Why is the Eurovision Song Contest Ridiculous? Exploring a Spectacle of Embarrassment, Irony and Identity
Autonomy, Mimesis and Mechanical Reproduction in Contemporary Music
Composition as Political Praxis
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,23 |
| Citation span | 1996 - 2021 (26) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |