Includes bibliographical references and index.
Translated from the French.

This collection covers a wide range of topics, from a moving study of Bizetʹs Carmen to an entertainingly caustic exploration of the hierarchies of the auditorium. Especially significant is Adornoʹs "dialectical portrait" of Stravinsky, in which Adorno both reconsiders and refines his damning indictment of the composer in Philosophy on Modern Music. Throughout, Adorno is sustained by the conviction that music is supremely human because it is capable of communicating inhumanity while resisting it. His belief in the benevolent and transformative power of music reverberates throughout these writings.