Adorno held that spontaneity of vision alone can counterbalance technical mastery’s domination.

Evidence

But what was it that enabled this mind to remain in command of itself? … The spontaneity of musical vision pushes aside whatever is prescribed, casts forth whatever has been learned, and lets only the force of the imagination have sway. This power to forget, this barbaric moment of hatred for art, allows the mediations of musical culture to be put in question at every instant through the immediacy of its reaction. It is this alone which balances the masterly command of technique and saves the tradition for it. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1276

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies Adorno’s concept of the spontaneous, ‘barbaric’ moment in musical vision as the counterweight to technique.
• XREF: connects to: Adorno’s late aesthetics frames mind and nature as mutually redeemable rather than opposed. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2214

Broader Connections

• Adorno’s late aesthetics frames mind and nature as mutually redeemable rather than opposed. #complicates (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2214