The Listener of the Chthonic Gods and the Barroom Player. Adorno’s Experience of Schubert Cover Image

Osluškivač htonskih bogova i kafanski svirač. Adornov doživljaj Šuberta
The Listener of the Chthonic Gods and the Barroom Player. Adorno’s Experience of Schubert

Author(s): Dragana Jeremić Molnar
Subject(s): Music
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: Franz Schubert; Theodor Adorno; Ludwig van Beethoven; romanticism; wandering

Summary/Abstract: In this article the author is reconstructing the complex picture of Franz Schubert created by Theodor Adorno in his numerous references to the Viennese composer, but mostly in his 1928 article “Schubert”. In the late 1920s Adorno experienced Schubert as the tragic composer whose music dwells in the realm of ch- thonic gods, but nevertheless reveals the joy of “traveling folk, jugglers and tricksters”. It remained, however, unclear how this joy could survive in the hellish landscapes of Schubert’s chthonic music. Later, Adorno recognized Schubert, due to his “habitus”, as the barroom player as well, never mentioning “traveling folk, jugglers and tricksters” any more. This two images of Schubert – Schubert as the Listener of the Chthonic Gods and Schubert as the Barroom Player – proved to be an interesting pair, worth of further theoretical elaboration, which Adorno unfortunately never bothered to undertake.

  • Issue Year: 22/2011
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 173-190
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Serbian