210A CRITICAL AND CULTURAL THEORY READER Ste tans RCS Loe en a this rather than that oe direction in ich 10g hat the aa a : id without which distinction of spirit is se pas Il be recognised as adequate by anyone who ely to read this Note ye & Kegan Paul, 11, A. Richards, The Principle of Literary Critsm (London: Routledge & Kegan ?: 1924), pp. 60-1. ! 7.2 Theodore Adorno from ‘On Popular Music’ (1941) ‘The musical material ‘The two spheres of music sr music, which produces the stimuli we are here *haracterized by its difference from serious musi taken for granted and is looked upon as a 80 well defined that most people regard the ¥: ident of one another. We deem it necessary, however, first so-called levels into more precise terms, rm ig this clarification would be an historical occurred in music production and of the roots of the two main spheres. Since, however, the actual function of popular music advisable to follow itis given today than to 2s the division into the wo spheres of musie took pl pe long, before American popular music arose. American music from its ieepae segbted te division as something pre-given, and therefore the historcal Bacifround of the division applies to it only indirectly. Hence we seek, face Praga insight into the fundamental characteristics of popular musica te ( broadest sense aise sar iudement conceming the relation of sevious muste to popular rasan De attived at only by strict attention to the fundamental characteristic of popular must: standardization.’ The whole stern ot2124 CRITICAL AND CULTURAL THEORY READER two bars and eral types of hits are ‘of whose pattern is understood, mother songs, home sonj laments for a es of each hi beat out the standard harmonic have no consequences. This inexorable devi what aberrations occur, the hi and nothing fundament ‘The details themselves are standardized no less than the form, and a whole terminology exists for them such as break, blue chords, dirty notes. mn, however, is somewhat different from that of the the latter but hidden behind a veneer of sare handled as the experts’ secret, however open this secret may be to musicians generally. This contrasting character of the standardization of the whole and part provides a rough, preliminary setting for the effect upon the listener. ‘The primary effect of this relation between the framework and the d is that the listener becomes prone to evince stronger reactions to the pa than to the whole. His grasp of the whole does not lie in the living experience is one concrete piece of music he has followed. The whole is pre pre-accepted, even before the actual experience of the music starts: therefore, it is not likely to influence, to any great extent, the reaction 10 them varying degrees of emphasis. Details which ly strategic positions in the framework ~ the beginning of the chorus or its re-entrance after the bridge - have a better chance for recognition and favourable reception than details not so situated, for instance, middle the bridge. But this situational nexus never interferes with the scheme itself. To this limited situational extent the detail depends upon the whole. But no stress is ever placed upon the whole as a musical event, nor does the structure of the whole ever depend upon the details. Serious music, for comparative purposes. may be thus charai Every detail derives its musical sense from the concrete tot piece which, in tum, consists of the life relationship of the details and never ‘aamere enforcement of a musical scheme. For example, in the introduction Of the first movernent of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony the second theme ‘C-major) gets its true meaning only from the context. Only through the whole does it acquire its particular lyrical and expressive quality ~ that is, a whole built up of its very contrast with the cantus firmus-like character of the first theme. Taken in isolation the second theme would be disrobed 10 insignific-ance. Another example may be found in the beginning of the recapitulation over the pedal point of the first movement of Beethoven's “Appassionata’. By f the preceding outburst it achieves the utmost also the ‘characters’ such as songs, pseudo-nursery the harmonic DOCUMENTS IN CULTURAL STUDIES 213 fon and development and can happen y det popular music. ft would not "n out of the context: the concrete parts Tp f detalissubstuabe: eserves function oon) oe ao, Every 2 cog in e machine The mee establishraent of hil ite ference i not yt suffice {0 objet tat the freaching standard strane oa es Serna i tous muss foreman nah aveate 0 dance flassical Viennese School, it may be maintained ether mae te Serious musics also to be compichendea wok; oF that ithe whet ils perce imusie despite recurrence ofthe re ter hr in modem popular mu following consideration provide a showing the radical differences even whore s. According 1o current focmaliie sear Symphony can be regarded as Higa Reethoven takes from the traditional minue a major trio, and other characteristics such tension not only by is rene by the very way ™ tt theme, then i '&. foreboding expression but even more in which its formal development is ha ma indled, inuetto scheme required first the appearance “; antroduction of a second part which may lead to more similar, to be sure, to the ‘bridge’ of scherzo (tha in C-major that f the deep string the dualism of not developed in a schem- laborated, then the answer214 A CRITICAL AND CULTURAL THEORY READER of the winds, and then the string theme is mechanically repeated. the second theme in the homs, the two essential elements ich vanishes only with the affirmative entry of hhas been made dynamic. Not only the srence: in Beethoven and in good serious music in = we are not concerned here and mechanical as popular mi hhas no bearing on a whole, which Thus, the whole is never altered by Standardization The previous discussion shows that the difference between popular and ic can be grasped in more precise terms than those referring to such as “lowbrow and highbrow’, ‘simy complex’, ‘the difference between the spheres cannot and simplicity thythmi yw per se than most melodies of, for example, Haydn, which consist Of circumnscriptions of tonic triads, and second steps. Harmonically, the supply of chords of the so-called classics is invariably more limited than fer sources. Standardization and non-standardization are the key contrasting terms for the difference. Structural standar ‘ims at standard reactions. Listening to popular music red not only by its promoters, but as it were, by the inherent nature of this must into a system of response-mechanisms wholly Pocuments mw cutrunaz srops. 215 antagonistic tothe idea! of ina ceed ‘to do with sir on lement, even the amy “ se Or theless possiblity there en Imusic, however, the Independent of the spel ‘that certain complex hat music than the tame h stnonies are more cai armonies in er never functions at llishment behind which 7 tener capable of eps formulas by the sematc one suxgest however adventurows thoyape n hit music by. achieving slight substitu the pattcns, The Istener, when eee Only the simple which i represent a paradise distortion of the eet Complicated rhythmical or hamwome they represent and which they “ti il ar. The eat deal withthe gece mS derived from the knowledge cf h the complicated, actually eset Dereives the complicated only ae by stere is 22 Setcotype patterns is possible in music divests ned reflexes. this structure of contempos lysis, accoun kanal is for those changes of iat is, as an inhe Process of production or all indi rence to the \dardization. Though, iandardization, the producing a song ‘of popular music is 1ode of ser, harmonizer, and