Enlightenment-era music and Schoenberg agree only in refusing to be enjoyed.

Evidence

The new phase of the musical consciousness of the masses is defined by displeasure in pleasure. It resembles the reaction to sport or advertising. The words ‘enjoyment of art’ sound funny. If in nothing else, Schoenberg’s music resembles popular songs in refusing to be enjoyed. Whoever still delights in the beautiful passages of a Schubert quartet or even in the provocatively healthy fare of a Handel concerto grosso, ranks as a would-be guardian of culture among the butterfly collectors. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 71

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: A genuinely counterintuitive claim — Schoenberg and the popular song both refuse enjoyment — that would be a sharp test case when asking where Adorno lands on post-death culture.

Related

• Intellectuals’ praise of mass culture masks self-denunciation (similarity 0.78)