Towards a Revaluation of the Musical Truth in T. W. Adorno

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the concept of aesthetic normativity by Theodor W. Adorno. In doing so, it introduces an affirmative reconstruction of the concept of “truth content” (Wahrheitsgehalt), because Adorno expressly defined it in a negative way. It argues that the music, directly related to mimicry, has its truth by refusing schematic forms which objectify the subject’s gestural narratives made by his own. In this sense, Arnold Schoenberg’s early works are clear examples of a musical refuse that implies also an experience refused. The true character of a work depends on its potential of refuse and, in turn, the aesthetic norm’s paradox is based on this potential, i.e., the norm is the refuse of the norm.