The 'speculative ear': explorations in Adorno and musical modernism

Abstract

‘The Speculative Ear’: Explorations in Adorno and Musical Modernism Theodor W. Adorno continues to cut a controversial figure through the discipline of musicology. Against the substantial discourse that has built up around ‘what’s wrong with Adorno’ (in which his thinking tends to be presented as rigid and ossified, inadequate to the demands and complexities of contemporary music scholarship), this thesis presents a ‘speculative’ account of Adorno’s music criticism and philosophy. By both using Adorno’s aesthetic theory in speculative ways, and highlighting the speculative, open-ended qualities within his thinking, this thesis argues for the continued relevance of Adorno’s work for musico..