Susan Buck-Morss: The Origin of Negative Dialectics: Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and The Frankfurt Institute (1977-) [English, Spanish]
Filed under book | Tags: · 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, aesthetics, art, biography, critical theory, dialectic, Frankfurt school, history, literary criticism, logic, marxism, music, negative dialectics, philosophy, theory, truth
Publisher The Free Press, a division of Macmillan Publishing, New York, 1977
ISBN 0029049105
352 pages
review (Gillian Rose, History and Theory)
google books (EN)
Susan Buck-Morss at Monoskop wiki
The Origin of Negative Dialectics (English, 1977)
Origen de la dialéctica negativa (Spanish, trans. Nora Rabotnikof Maskivker, 1981, no OCR)
Richard Kostelanetz: Conversing with Cage, 2nd ed (1987/2003)
Filed under book | Tags: · aesthetics, art, biography, dance, music, music theory, radio, sound recording
Conversing with Cagedraws on over 150 interviews with John Cage conducted over four decades to draw a full picture of his life and art. Filled with the witty aphorisms that have made Cage as famous as an esthetic philosopher as a composer, the book offers both an introduction to Cage’s way of thinking and a rich gathering of his many thoughts on art, life, and music. John Cage is perhaps this century’s most radical classical composer. From his famous “silent” piece (4’33”) to his proclamation that “all sound is music,” Cage stretched the aesthetic boundaries of what could be performed in the modern concert hall. But, more than that, Cage was a provocative cultural figure, who played a key role in inspiring scores of other artists-and social philosophers-in the second half of the 20th century. Through his life and work, he created revolutions in thinking about art, and its relationship to the world around us. Conversing with Cageis the ideal introduction to this world, offering inthe artist’s own words his ideas about life and art. It will appeal to all fans of this mythic figure on the American scene, as well as anyone interested in better understanding 20th century modernism.
Edition 2
Publisher Routledge, 2003
ISBN 0415937922, 9780415937924
332 pages
Albrecht Betz: Hanns Eisler, Political Musician (1976/1982)
Filed under book | Tags: · agitprop, biography, composing, fascism, germany, music, music history, politics, proletariat
Eisler’s role in German music is similar to that of Brecht in German literature and the two men worked together for nearly thirty years. Together with Webern and Berg, Eisler is considered one of the three great pupils of Schoenberg. Albrecht Betz divides Eisler’s life and music into four periods. The early formative period as student of Schoenberg includes compositions written in Vienna up to 1925. From 1926 to 1933, the second period, Eisler lived in Berlin and made his greatest impact with his political vocal music. The third phase of Eisler’s life, fifteen years of exile, was spent principally in the USA, and the fourth (from 1948) in East Germany. The author shows how Eisler is distinguished from other great twentieth-century composers in his belief that music had a social function, and how he liberated modern music from what he and others felt was its isolation. Originally published in German in 1976, this English edition is illustrated with music examples and includes a complete list of works, and a bibliography which has been adapted for the English-speaking reader.
Originally published in German as Hanns Eisler, Musik einer Zeit, die sich eben bildet by Edition text und kritik GmbH, Munich 1976
Translated by Bill Hopkins
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 1982
ISBN 0521240220, 9780521240222
326 pages