Adorno’s mature career began in music criticism, not philosophy

Evidence

What was to become Adorno’s real field at about the same time as he started his studies, and where he was able to be active as a student of Lukács, Kracauer and Bloch, was music criticism and musical aesthetics. About a hundred articles by him on music criticism or aesthetics were published in the years 1921-32. By contrast, his first publication in philosophy, his dissertation on Kierkegaard for his Habilitation, only appeared in 1933. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 277

Categorization

• XREF: Explains why music and aesthetics remain central throughout the Frankfurt School corpus, from Adorno to later reception studies. — connects to: Adorno’s musical training came from his mother and aunt, not his merchant father — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 141; Adorno’s philosophy debut in 1933 came after a hundred music-criticism articles since 1921

Broader Connections

• Adorno’s musical training came from his mother and aunt, not his merchant father #expands (0.75) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 141