Von der Konstellation zum dialektischen Bild: Adorno über musikalische Werke.

The article "From Constellation to Dialectical Image: Adorno on Musical Works" by Christoph Hubig discusses Adorno's considerations on music aesthetics. Adorno uses the term "non-identical" and refers to Hegel to describe the nature of music. He also analyzes Beethoven's Appassionata and considers it as a realization of identity and non-identity. The text deals with constellation as a method of philosophizing and giving meaning. It is explained that constellations serve to preserve the non-identical as its own identity and to reveal the relationships between subjects and things. The text also refers to jazz as an example of the functionalization of subjective emotional expression. It also addresses Adorno's essay on Schubert, in which constellation, emotional expression, and dialectical image are already mentioned. The text deals with the relationship between technique and content in music and examines the use of meaning-expression in the music of Wagner and Mahler. Adorno argues that Wagner reinforces reification in music, while Mahler uses meaning-expression to create a dialectical visual language. The text also discusses Adorno's engagement with material categories in relation to Beethoven and Wagner. It is argued that in his analysis of the Missa solemnis, Adorno misses the mark and does not compose in terms of dialectical development. The text also deals with Adorno's interpretation of Beethoven's question about the possibility of an objective spiritual order and its parallel to Kantian philosophy. It is argued that Adorno overlooks the naive-believing Spinozism of Beethoven as an important element. Furthermore, Adorno's interpretation of Wagner is discussed, criticizing that he inserts meaning into his dialectical images and thus does not adequately analyze the phantasmagoria of Wagner's operas. Adorno argues that within the dramaturgy of the total work of art, every person and action is defined by a leitmotif and the world context becomes a tautology. The research of Carl Dahlhaus on the transformation of leitmotifs in Wagner is cited as a counter-argument. In his monograph on Mahler, Adorno describes the thoroughly broken nature of Mahler's music and emphasizes reflection and the non-identical. The text also considers the music of Alban Berg and Gustav Mahler in the context of Negative Dialectics. It is argued that Mahler's music creates a wholeness that does not let the characteristic disappear. Mahler's music is considered a kind of protest against the prevailing ideology of the true, the beautiful, and the good. The text also discusses the music of Igor Stravinsky and argues that his music represents a static dead end that goes against the development and dialectical nature of music. The text deals with the composers Stravinsky and Schoenberg and their musical works. Adorno analyzes Stravinsky's music and sees in it a destruction of the organic and a lack of freedom due to the lack of thematic work. In Schoenberg, on the other hand, Adorno recognizes a movement between expression and order, which is based on an exemplary change of the composer to his material. This text discusses Adorno's position as an advocate of material in music. Adorno rejects the artificialization and formalization of music in thoroughly determined systems and instead emphasizes the non-identity of the material. He argues that music cannot be reduced to its images and overforming constructions, but that the material itself should be recognized. Adorno pursues a materialism that does not dissolve into the indeterminate, but rather recognizes the material as it is. [Extracted from the article]