Correspondence 1925-1935

In December 1945 Thomas Mann wrote a famous letter to Adorno in which he formulated the principle of montage adopted in his novel Doctor Faustus. The writer expressly invited the philosopher to 'consider, with me, how such a work - and I mean Leverkuhn's work - could more or less be practically realized'. Their close collaboration on questions concerning the character of the fictional composer's putatively late works (Adorno produced specific sketches which are included as an appendix to the present volume) effectively laid the basis for a further exchange of letters.

The ensuing correspondence between the two men documents a rare encounter of creative tension between literary tradition and aesthetic modernism which would be sustained right up until the novelist's death in 1955. In the letters, Thomas Mann openly acknowledged his 'fascinated reading' of Adorno's Minima Moralia and commented in detail on the 'Essay on Wagner', which he was as eager to read as 'the one in the Book of Revelation consumes a book which tastes "as sweet as honey"'. Adorno in turn offered detailed observations upon and frequently enthusiastic commendations of Mann's later writings, such as The Holy Sinner, The Betrayed One and The Confessions of Felix Krull. Their correspondence also touches upon issues of great personal significance, notably the sensitive discussion of the problems of returning from exile to postwar Germany.

The letters are extensively annotated and offer the reader detailed notes concerning the writings, events and personalities referred or alluded to in the correspondence.

“'Begun during their joint exile in California and ending with Mann's death just a few days before a long-postponed reunion in post-war Europe, this correspondence between the twentieth century's most brilliant philosopher of modernism and the legendary German representative of modernist fiction is a surprisingly moving document to their mutual respect and admiration, closeness and distance, guarded intimacy and striking intellectual affinities. Carefully annotated, these letters offer us a treasure trove of deeply personal exchanges about each man's works, while brimming with shared insights into post-war German culture and the McCarthy years in the United States.'ndreas Huyssen'Adorno had been a lifelong, if at times uneasy, admirer of Thomas Mann's genius. The invitation by Mann to become a technical and historical adviser for the musicology and philosophy of music in Mann's Doctor Faustus put Adorno near the centre of shared exile in California. It also entailed a bitter conflict with Schoenberg. Adorno was caught in the middle. These letters document not only a fascinating intellectual encounter, but an instance of creative collaboration rare in literary history.'eorge Steiner”

"These letters provide us with a unique overview of the period and offer interesting and enlightening perspectives on even mundane aspects of daily life, as well as bringing us closer to the characters in question by allowing us a special insight into thir peculiar foibles and eccentricities."
Musical Times

"Major composers who befriend major philosophers, and vice-versa, are hardly numerous in the history of Western culture. Alban Berg's relationship with Theodor W. Adorno as teacher and colleague ranks with that between Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche, with the difference that Berg's and Adorno's genuine affection for each other, and their magnificent insight into each other’s work, remained constant to the end. Their correspondence is one of the landmarks of the early twentieth century and its music – a beacon of light in desperate times."
John Deathridge, King’s College London

"Sensitively translated and skillfully edited, the Adorno-Berg Correspondence represents scholarship eminently worthy of this extraordinary collection of letters between two twentieth-century intellectual-artistic giants. Adorno's composition lessons with Berg lasted for only a few months, but the impact transformed his understanding of modern music in particular and aesthetics in general. Berg, in turn, respected his pupil’s abilities as a composer, just as he clearly benefited, both intellectually and emotionally, from young Adorno’s profound insight into his master’s music. Though separated in age by nearly two decades, the two men formed a relationship born of deep affection and still deeper shared respect that lasted until Berg's untimely and sudden death. The collected correspondence makes available for the first time in English a body of texts that will add significantly to our understanding of Adorno and Berg as well as their breathtaking accomplishments."
Richard Leppert, University of Minnesota

Theodor W. Adorno and Alban Berg

Adorno was twenty-one years old when he traveled to Vienna in March 1925 to study musical composition with Alban Berg. Twenty years later, Adorno wrote: "how much of my writing will remain is beyond my knowledge or my control, but there is one claim I wish to stake: that I understand the language of birds," It was no less than the desire to learn to speak this language that drew him to Berg. Adorno already knew what he wanted to drew to compose before he went to Berg, and the aim of his stay in Vienna and the following years was to learn to put this knowledge of musical composition into practice.

His correspondence with Berg, who was soon to be world famous, is partly defined by his engagement with the compositional problems posed for the musical avant-garde by Schoenberg’s discovery of the twelve-tone technique, for which Adorno was to become an advocate, not least in Vienna and through Berg. This correspondence documents how he wrote numerous essays on Berg, Webern and Schoenberg during this time, and tried in vain to establish a platform for the Second Viennese School against "moderated modernity" in the journal Anbruch, where he exerted considerable editorial influence. It also shows how much Adorno – continually admonished by Berg to focus only on his musical composition – strove to reconcile his academic duties and his literary and journalistic work with the constant which to do nothing more than compose.

Adorno was twentyone years old when he traveled to Vienna in March 1925 to study musical composition with Alban Berg. Twenty years later, Adorno wrote: "how much of my writing will remain is beyond my knowledge or my control, but there is one claim I wish to stake: that I understand the language of birds," It was no less than the desire to learn to speak this language that drew him to Berg. Adorno already knew what he wanted to drew to compose before he went to Berg, and the aim of his stay in Vienna and the following years was to learn to put this knowledge of musical composition into practice. His correspondence with Berg, who was soon to be world famous, is partly defined by his engagement with the compositional problems posed for the musical avantgarde by Schoenberg s discovery of the twelvetone technique, for which Adorno was to become an advocate, not least in Vienna and through Berg. This correspondence documents how he wrote numerous essays on Berg, Webern and Schoenberg during this time, and tried in vain to establish a platform for the Second Viennese School against "moderated modernity" in the journal Anbruch, where he exerted considerable editorial influence. It also shows how much Adorno continually admonished by Berg to focus only on his musical composition strove to reconcile his academic duties and his literary and journalistic work with the constant which to do nothing more than compose.

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