ABSTRACT
Western musical culture since the early twentieth century has appeared irremediably bifurcated. If few people outside of the devotees of new music pay it much attention, or if it rarely affects the concert repertoire, that condition seems to alter little about its accepted status as the expression of new music most appropriate to modern times. The ascription of a moral effect to music or to any other art sounds implausible, both because such an effect would be highly contingent on the particular works contemplated, but also because any connection between morality and art appears to threaten the autonomy of each. The music of the canonic repertoire is melodic, is based on a harmonic norm of consonance, and achieves a high degree of tonal coherence through what is generally known as 'functional' harmony. Theodor W. Adorno's analysis of modern music makes clear the metaphysical dimension of style.
