© Ilse Mayer Gehrken / Theodor W. Adorno Archiv

 

Between the Frankfurt and Vienna Schools. Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno: The Compositional Work

akut. Verein für Ästhetik und angewandte Kulturtheorie, Austria

Theodor W. Adorno is famous as a philosopher and sociologist, as an author of writings like »Dialectic of Enlightenment« and »Aesthetic Theory« and as a musical philosopher and protagonist of Critical Theory. However, it is far less known in the public sphere that Adorno was also a musician and composer and can be attributed to the »New Vienna School« as a student of Alban Berg in the entourage of Arnold Schönberg.
Thus, although the philosopher created one of the key aesthetic works of the 20th century with his writings on art and musical theory, it is virtually unknown what he actually composed. Scholarly exploration of his compositions is still in its early days. His works are only insufficiently published and scarcely feature in the concert repertoire.

Supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation the three-day symposium presents Adorno’s compositional work in concerts and lectures tabling it for discussion. His works will be performed in the concerts alongside related and neighboring works – such as those by Mahler, Berg, Schönberg, Webern as well as by Mahnkopf and Lachenmann. In this way, though also in the lecture program, the event makes a contribution to the living tradition of New Music and the artistic avant-garde.

November 19, 2015
Arnold Schönberg Center

November 20 and 21, 2015
Clara Schumann-Saal, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna

November 21, 2015
Schubert-Saal, Wiener Konzerthaus

Further Information:
www.vereinakut.tumblr.com