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Dissonant Conjunctions: On Schönberg, Adorno, and Bloch

Introduction

In the early 20th century, Arnold Schönberg's emancipation of dissonance broke with tradition and shattered the precepts of tonal unity and its analogue, historical coherence. By freeing dissonance from the traditional requirement concerning the resolution of discord, Schönberg dispelled the illusion of harmonious reconciliation. While this rejection of tonal music's aesthetic coherence articulated fin de siècle Vienna's failing confidence in its social and political institutions, his works had repercussions beyond his time. His response to tonal music's faltering sense of finality emphasized the crisis of closure that prefigured the postmodern condition by shattering the pretense of unity claimed by...