Alban Berg: Master of the Smallest Link (Paperback)

Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno

ISBN 10: 0521338840 / ISBN 13: 9780521338844

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994

About this Item

Paperback. Adorno's study of Austrian composer Alban Berg (1885-1935) is a sui generis document. In addition to Adorno's personal account of of the life and musical works of his mentor, friend, and composition teacher, the book explores the historical and cultural significance of Berg's music, its relationship to that of other nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers, and to the larger issues of contemporary life. Adorno's study of Austrian composer Alban Berg (1885-1935) is a sui generis document. In addition to Adorno's personal account of of the life and musical works of his mentor, friend, and composition teacher, the book explores the historical and cultural significance of Berg's music, its relationship to that of other nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers, and to the larger issues of contemporary life. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780521338844

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Alban Berg: Master of the Smallest Link (Paperback)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521338840
• ISBN 13: 9780521338844
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Adorno's study of Alban Berg is a unique document. Itself now a part of music history, it is a personal account, by a pre-eminent philosopher and aesthetician, of the life and musical works of his mentor, friend and composition teacher. Shortly after Berg's death in 1935, Adorno contributed several analyses to the first Berg biography. Thirty years later he incorporated these chapters and several subsequent essays into one volume. Beyond analyses of individual pieces, the book explores the historical and cultural significance of Berg's music, its relationship to that of other twentieth-century composers, and to the larger issues of contemporary life. This is a classic study, made available here for the first time in English, and it provides a key to understanding Adorno himself as well as offering an individual perspective on one of the major composers of the twentieth century.

Review

' ... a remarkable document; a personal memoir and a study of the composer's works, it is also something more: a revelation of Adorno's belief that modern philosophy ought to be modelled on modern music. Adorno's Berg, one of his most provocative books, has been beautifully translated by Juliane Brand and Christopher Hailey.' The Times Literary Supplement