ABSTRACT
Theodor Adorno's overwhelming concern is the development of modernism in art, philosophy, and the general culture. Adorno denies that art and music have static essences. Adorno underpins his examination of the arts with a general critical theory of culture. With the rise of capitalism, he maintains, the things humans produce have lost touch with their original value for the sake of a secondary value, their exchange value. Since popularity is founded on a high degree of standardization, popular music lacks a hallmark of genuine art, which always speaks with an individualized voice. Classical music and popular music seem to be on all fours in still one further respect. When Adorno hears Ellington as deriving from Claude Debussy, the most obvious point of failure is that he fastens on the composing and arranging and thus its link to the "high" European tradition.
