Nino Rota Fellini and Adorno

Adorno and Music

Adorno's concept of standardization stems from the industrialization of culture -- the most fitting example being that of the assembly line, where cars are manufactured in the exact same manner, robotically, without any originality or deviation occurring. The standard is the same. In music, standardization occurs in a similar manner -- instead of cars being manufactured, the culture industry manufactures music, art, cinema, books, etc. I piece of music that I believe has aesthetic value is Nino Rota's "Theme" for the Fellini film 8 1/2. It has a very basic structure and thematically resembles a circus piece -- which applies to the chaotic narrative of the film about a director trying to marshal both his internal and his external environment towards "the hoop" through which everything is meant to pass. The music is colorful, inviting, rhythmic, and very much like a march that easily draws the listener into its world.

The element of standardization is only marginally evident in Rota's "Theme" -- and this in the sense that it draws on traditional circus/march motifs. The theme's main motif is repeated again and again at varying paces, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, depending upon the feeling that Rota is attempting to evoke. The rhythmic structure of the piece is thus varied and never stale: rhythm acts as a driver of the melody, but the melody remains at the top and at the fore -- without it, there is no work at all.

The work has emotional value in part because of its application in the film; detached from the film, it is still an enjoyable work, but the emotional and aesthetic value is tied to the film by Fellini for anyone who has seen it. For a new listener, unaware of the "Theme" in the film but hearing it for the first time, there is likely to be an appreciation of the dramatic qualities of the score. However, the standardization that Adorno discusses and the rhythmic structure may be more evident to this type of listener, who is unaffected by the visuals and narrative of the film and their impact on the theme by Rota. The emotions roused by the film are sure to intertwine with those of the music to create an even deeper emotional experience for one who is both a viewer of the film and a hearer of the music.

Emotional value contributes to our understanding of a piece of music by supplying a subtext to it and making the musical narrative and sounds more meaningful to us. They become evocative, merging inside of us with memories or feelings that we experience or have experienced, creating an image in our minds that relates to the sounds of the music and the ideas that the music conveys. Our emotions help us to "understand" the music by giving us a feeling by which we can "read" or interpret what we are hearing and apply it to something we understand in our minds. Adorno discusses the "false origins" of music like jazz (477), which he identifies as being a standardized form of music -- a commercialization of the "despairing way out" (473). With music, the way it is presented is a cue to how one should feel about or think about life, himself, his world, his surroundings, etc. The music itself may have artistic merit convey a message or feeling that works to undermine the authenticity of the individual. The emotional value of a piece is thus reflective of the value of the listener -- and just as art acts as a mirror, telling us who and what we are, music can define our lives through its emotional appeal. Our understanding of a piece of music, therefore, depends upon what we bring to it as well as what it brings to us. There is a meeting of the minds, so to speak -- perhaps in the middle, perhaps closer to the listener and perhaps closer to the composer. The meeting is where the real exchange takes place.