Musik & Ästhetik, 2005, Jg. 9, Ausgabe 33

The Mosaic Distinction in Arnold Schoenberg´s Opera »Moses and Aron«

Arnold Schoenberg´s Opera Moses and Aron is one of modernity´s most important engagements with monotheism. Here the phenomenon of iconomachy is taken to its natural conclusion with such radical consistency that the God of the Bible ultimately becomes as a mere image a victim of his own interdict. In Schoenberg´s work monotheism appears as a »notion« that can never be realised without compromises and which ends in the abyss of negative theology (Act II) or – fortunately Schoenberg did not pursue this path any further – can only be asserted by force (Act III).

Bruno Maderna´s flexible notion of the musical material. An analysis of the »Divertimento in due tempi« (1953)

In the early 1950s Bruno Maderna developed compositional strategies that combine strict serial techniques with other more flexible formal procedures. As his preparatory sketches for the Divertimento in due tempi (1953) show Maderna maintained a sharp distinction between the (abstract) generation of serial materials and their subsequent compositional realization. In the process the composer transforms and interprets the serial materials in a variety of ways as the overall concept of the work gradually takes shape.

Hear hear: Adorno?

Adorno´s musical aesthetics is closely connected to his socialtheoretical opinions. These tend towards a monolithic exegesis of advanced industrial capitalism as a historical configuration whose bureaucratic structures have such a profound effect on the psyche of the individual that a complete obliteration of the subject is the inevitable consequence. This social-theoretical determinism disables the dialectic between the individual and society. In his writings on music Adorno recognizes the Second Viennese School as the only musical force that opposed this and paid the price of social ostracism. This obstructs his view of other musical genres and statements. He only measured the development of advance art music after Schoenberg according to his own interpretation of that school and was thus unable to see the historical perspective. He condemned the forms of ›light‹ music across the board. Convinced by his social-theoretical model he makes no effort to approach the target of his polemics with precise knowledge.

Globalization and the Freedom of the Arts

In order to establish whether and how social globalization affects the freedom of the arts the author begins by developing these two key terms. The resulting model of thought enables him to show the ways in which processes of globalization reinforce the existing problems of autonomy in the system of the arts. The central hypothesis is that the autonomy of art is precisely not secured through the existence of art as an autonomous institution but rather that system-immanent processes of communication tend towards a second-order heteronomy towards a self-governed determination by external factors in art that can lead in a globalized world art system to a severe loss of autonomy and freedom in the arts.

Cultural Conflict and Musical Censorship. The background to the Taliban´s prohibition of music

Musical censorship is historically examined an almost commonplace phenomenon. As radical a ban as the one imposed in Afghanistan by the Taliban in 1996 however is one of the less common occurrences. The Western public sphere acknowledged this ban with bewilderment but offered no sufficient explanation. The text takes as its point of departure the reception of the ban on music in the Western public sphere unifying the insights offered by various individual disciplines. Embedding this particular phenomenon in a historical examination of the theme of extreme religiously-based opposition to music it seeks to reveal patterns of such opposition which can certainly also be found in the occidental tradition albeit focusing on a different problem-complex: the stance of Islam including its marginal sect-like manifestations in relation to music.