Beethoven

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), a prominent member of the Frankfurt School, was one of the most influential thinkers of this century in the areas of social theory, philosophy and aesthetics.

"Great works of art, Adorno knew, always resist the attempt to subsume them under theoretical categories. In the case of a supreme artist like Beethoven, a lifetime of futile efforts by Adorno to complete a major philosophical study bore ironic witness to this insight. The struggle to write his impossible book left behind, however, a wealth of tantalizing fragments, which have the added value of revealing Adorno's own process of intellectual production. Masterfully reconstructed and annotated by Rolf Tiedemann, they are now available in Edmund Jephcott's elegant translation. In their very "failure" they demonstrate the abiding power of Adorno's claim that the dialectic of art and philosophy must remain unreconciled and negative." Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley "These fragments shed valuable light not only on Adorno's thinking on Beethoven, but also equally importantly on the sources of Adorno's philosophy of music. Rolf Tiedemann's sensitive editing has produced a remarkably coherent volume out of the most disparate material, while Edmund Jephcott's translation rises magnificently to a difficult task." Max Paddison, University of Durham

• Editor's Preface. 1. Prelude.2. Music and Concept.3. Society.4. Tonality.5. Form and the Reconstruction of Form.6. Critique.7. Early and 'Classical' Phases.8. Vers une analyse des symphonies. .9. Late Style (I).10. Late Work without Late Style.11. Late Style (II).12. Humanity and Demythologization.Appendix.Abbreviations.Editor's Notes.Editorial Afterword.Comparative Table of Fragments.Thematic Summary of Contents.Indexes.