Adorno saw contemporary music as weakened by the decline of the individual

Evidence

But was one not simply left with a collection of tones which could be manipulated, perhaps even using traditional forms, or whose sounds, purified of all human touches, could have metaphysical powers attributed to themas composers inspired by Zen, for example, did? And did this not correspond precisely to what Adorno had long since diagnosed as a weakening of the individual in society, which composers were also affected by? In the midst of the anthropology of the present age, to demand non-revisionist music is to expect too much,' Adorno himself stated. He mentioned the prohibitive difficulties’ of contemporary art again and again. Yet it was precisely in music that he saw chances at the present time for a third path to succeed. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2209

Categorization

• XREF: Directly instantiates Adorno’s core thesis about the weakening of the individual in late capitalism, which recurs throughout this book. — connects to: Adorno read modernist music’s technical conflicts as symptoms of social disorder