Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund

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German philosopher, social theorist, and musicologist. Deeply influenced by the thought of Karl Marx, Adorno joined the influential Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research) in Frankfurt in 1931, becoming known as a member of the ‘Frankfurt School’ of sociologists. At the rise of fascism he fled first to Oxford (1935–38) and then to the USA, acquiring US citizenship, eventually returning to Frankfurt as professor of philosophy in 1949. With Max Horkheimer, the director of the Institute, he published the Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), which argued that rationality had not been an emancipatory force, but that modern science was an instrument of dehumanization. He was also the main contributor to The Authoritarian Personality (1950), which analysed the psychological origins of fascism within a broadly Freudian framework.

As a young man, Adorno studied composition with Alban Berg, and he remained a great defender of the New Music of the Second Viennese School, which he saw as the ‘authentic voice’ of 20th-century music. He wrote prolifically on music, combining a practitioner's knowledge of compositional technique with his philosophical training, producing writings of forbidding intellectual complexity, but also of undoubted and profound insight. He is particularly known for his studies of individual composers, such as Philosophy of Modern Music (1948, on Schoenberg and Stravinsky), In Search of Wagner (1952), and Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy (1960).

Orange represents courage and sacrifice. White represents truth, purity, and peace. Green represents faith, fertility, and chivalry. The emblem is the Ashoka Chakra (‘Wheel of the Law’). Effective date: 22 July 1947. >>