Resumo

Adorno defendió durante toda su vida lo que denominó la crisis de la ópera, que se extendería desde el final de la Primera Guerra Mundial hasta su muerte en 1969. Entre los años veinte y sesenta del siglo XX, no hay una sola década en que no dedique varios textos a esta idea, que le sirve para comprender los diversos periodos históricos en los que desarrolló su obra, desde la Gran Depresión hasta la Guerra Fría, pasando por la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Estudiamos la gestación de esta idea de forma cronológica y mostramos que sus textos están marcados por tres presupuestos: el esteticismo musical, la división entre artes liberales y serviles y el mito del nacimiento de la ópera. Esto nos lleva a concluir el carácter mítico de su postura y nos sirve para entender algunas de sus ideas en torno a la dirección de orquesta, la radio, el disco, la televisión y los teatros de ópera.

The crisis of the Opera in Theodor Adorno’s work. History and criticism of an unfounded topic

Adorno defended throughout his life what he called the crisis of opera, which would extend from the end of World War I until his death in 1969. Between the 1920s and the 1960s, there is not a single decade in which he does not devote several texts to this idea, which serves him to understand the historical periods in which he developed his work, from the Great Depression to the Cold War, through the Second World War. We study the development of this idea chronologically, showing that his texts are marked by three presuppositions: musical aestheticism, the division between liberal and servile arts, and the myth of the birth of opera. This leads us to conclude the mythical character of his position and helps us to understand some of his ideas about conducting, radio, recordings, television and opera houses.