Annotated Bibliography- Marxism and Mediation

Adorno, Theodor W., (Author). Introduction to the Sociology of Music. New York: Continuum,
1989.

In this pioneering text Adorno tackles many of the basic difficulties for a critical sociology of music.
Based on a series of lectures at the University of Frankfurt, each chapter of this book focuses on a
different aspect of musical life. These include a typology of listening types, analysis of popular music,
the social interactions in orchestras, opera and the problem of mediation. While little overt references to
Marx are found anywhere, much of the background of the critique is rooted in Adorno's Freudean
Marxism.

Adorno, Theodor W., (Author), and Maurice, (Trans.) Goldbloom. On the Fetish Character of
Music and Regression of Listening. In Collected Work: Sound Studies, Vol. 2. Pages: 3-27.
(AN: 2013-03388)., 2013.

This essay has been central to discussions of Adorno's work on popular music since its publication in
the 1930's. It represents a first attempt to import the Marxists critique of ideology (via Lukacs' notion
of reification) into music; much of the analysis consists in creating a model of the conditioning of
musical consciousness by the newly emerging recording industry, foreshadowing the critique of the
culture industry of Adorno and Horkheimer's later Dialectic of Enlightenment.

Christiaens, Jan, (Author). Analysis as Mediated Immediacy: Adorno, Hepokoski & Darcy, and
the Dialectics of Music Analysis. Dutch Journal of Music theory/Tijdschrift Voor
Muziektheorie 13, no. 2 (2008): 14558.

This recent article creates an unusual intersection of the often segregated realms of Music Theory and
Critical musicology. Analyzing Hepokoski and Darcy's indebtedness to Adorno's dialectical
thinking (represented in their work by the interaction of conventions and 'deformations'), the
author critiques some of the limitations of their method in dealing with the concept of
mediation.

Delige, Irne, (Ed.), and Max, (Ed.) Paddison. Contemporary Music: Theoretical and
Philosophical Perspectives. Conference Source: : Brussels. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010.

This collection of essays brings together musicologists, music theorists and composers, in an attempt to
asses the relationship between critical theory and contemporary music. Padisson's essays focus
on the concept of mediation found in Adorno's work, and the possible adjustments it should
undergo in light of recent developments.

Hooper, Giles, (Author). The Discourse of Musicology. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006.

Despite not engaging with Marxism or mediation directly, this work is an important contribution to the
tradition of critical theory in music. Focusing on the thought of Habermas, the author attempts
to reconstruct an 'objective' critique of musicological work without resorting to the Marxist
concept of ideology. Adorno's work is the subject of much commentary from this new
 perspective, as well as critique.

Klumpenhouwer, Henry, (Author). Late Capitalism, Late Marxism and the Study of Music.
Music Analysis 20, no. 3 (2001): 367405.

This review of recent works by Deborah Cook, Shierry Weber Nicholson and Alastair Williams
provides a clear introduction to the some of the basic Marxist concepts used in works on
Adorno; unfortunately, the works themselves are discussed somewhat too generally. Surveying
different aspects of Adorno's work, the author also considers the interaction of music theory and
Marxism in some detail.

Krims, Adam, (Author). Marxist Music Analysis without Adorno: Popular Music and Urban
Geography. In Collected Work: Analyzing Popular Music. Pages: 131-157. (AN: 2003-
05101)., 2003.

This article suggests a Marxist alternative to Adorno's concept of the culture industry. Rather than
serving a function of integration into a social totality, the influence of capitalism on music is
interpreted in terms of diversification and fragmentation into different isolated musical cultures.
This process is examined in a concrete engagement with urban space rather than abstract
critique, borrowing from critical geography.

Paddison, Max, (Author). Adorno, Modernism and Mass Culture: Essays on Critical Theory and
Music. London: Kahn & Averill, 1996.

. Adornos Aesthetics of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

These two works by Paddison serve as excellent introductions to Adorno's thought on music; the latter
focuses mostly on Adorno's theory of mediation and draws on Paddison's dissertation on this
topic. These works are unique in their combination of philosophical depth (exploring the
different thinkers Adorno draws on) and concrete musical examples. While these might not
contain much groundbreaking work, they are indispensable for any discussion in this field.

Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt, (Ed. And Intro.), and Jacques, (Foreword) Attali. Music and Marx:
Ideas, Practice, Politics. Critical and Cultural Musicology. New York: Routledge, 2002.

This book collects contributions by different authors, all working within a Marxist framework. The
topics vary from critique of musicology (once again by Klumpenhouwer) to analysis of popular music
in Hindustan and the economic conditions in the music market. This illustrates the two poles of Marxist
scholarship: on the one hand, critique of given bodies of thought and ideologies; on the other, active
political interventions in the dynamics of society.