Intensive, extensive und epische Zeit, oder: Adorno liest Beethoven

Abstract

In his 1938–1966 fragments for a prospective Beethoven book, Theodor W. Adorno sketched a philosophy of (musical) time based on three form types: an “intensive”, an “extensive”, and an “epic” type, each defined by its relation to the motivic process. Taken further, these types can prove fruitful for the analysis of both notated and performed music—and particularly for the analysis of (musical) gesture. This article seeks to trace the genesis and contradictory stages of Adorno’s typology through a close, diachronic reading of his Beethoven fragments, arriving at the conclusion that Beethoven neglected the fundamental difference between abstract (notated) and experienced (performed) time. Drawing on historical recordings of the “Kreutzer Sonata” by Menuhin, Kulenkampff, and Kreisler (1934–1936), the survey closes with a distinction between (abstract) form types and (performed) time modes, which in turn contribute to the debate on “classical” and “romantic” aspects in music, as well as to the discussion of “objective” and “subjective” performance practice (practices).