Adorno, Dada, and Music

In his extensive body of work on art and aesthetics, Theodor W. Adorno does not dedicate much sustained attention to Dada. This chapter is a partial reconstruction of his interpretation of the movement, which takes as an organizing framework his typology of contemporary music from “On the Social Situation of Music.” Referring to Dada in passing in separate discussions of the key composers Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill, Adorno appears largely unaware of its own experiments with music. His comments about the movement are supplemented by examples of its activity in this field, an area of its creative practice that historically has been neglected by scholars. Finally, Adorno’s concept of alienating infantilism is analyzed in light of this expanded understanding of Dada.