Adorno and Babbitt :: Post 1 & 2
 Post #2
Needless to say, serialism is an acquired taste. So much so you might need a special head to appreciate it. Babbit stated, “The time has passed when the normally well-educated man without special preparation could understand the most advanced work... Advanced music... scarcely can be expected to appear more intelligible than these arts and sciences to the person whose musical education usually has been even less extensive than his background in other fields.”
Public consumes it one way but the specialist consume it another way. When the music is good, really good, you have to have a big head to perceive it. Otherwise, one will be the uneducated audience in which the music is not intended.
As the class discussed serialism, as Babbit listed examples of other professions where advanced work needs an above average level of intelligibility to be understood (mathematics, philosophy, and physics). In class, there were a few different analogies that were tossed around, ones that centered around expert/specialist and lay persons/consumers, for example, a chef tasting a gourmet meal versus an average consumer, and the wine drinking connoisseur versus the casual sipper that only wants a buzz.
So, I’m wondering, what makes the music by the specialist, avant garde, elite or advanced? When we define avante garde, is that defined by the amount of followers (restricted to a niche), the type of followers (the educated or sophisticated)  or the way any of the followers appreciates or supports the artist (commodification)?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Â - - - - - - - - - - -Â - - - - - - - -
Post #1
Hopefully I took away the crux of his point, but on page 14, Adorno states, “The development of the logic of this rigor at the cost of the passive perception of the sensual sound defines the rank of the composition by its contrast to culinary pleasure.”
This made me think, are we sometimes impressed with complexity in music because we know the “objective rigor” which is bestowed upon “great music”, or can untrained ears perceive complexity? Is it the same with culinary pleasure? Some food taste good that is prepared quickly and unskillfully. Does the food prepared by professionally trained chef have a certain quality that cheap food doesn’t possess? Â
Ardono mentions Hegel’s argument is significant as he argues that the artist ought to have autonomy to develop from within, and that whatever those constructs were that represented tonality during the enlightenment, which were restrictive and inhibiting, are reduced to mere options. There are no musical absolutes in other words.
Serialism is an evolution or an revolution (as Babbitt called it) of musical thought. Babbitt believes that accessibility isn’t the goal of the artist, but authenticity is. His “first obligation is to his art”. The composer’s aim should not be to relate to the audience, but to draw out from his stylistic convictions, whatever they might be, whatever other styles they might usurp.