Adorno, Theodor (11 September 1903–06 August 1969), social and political theorist, aesthetician, and atonalist musical composer, was born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund in Frankfurt, Germany, the son of Oskar Wiesengrund, a wealthy wine merchant, and Maria Calvelli-Adorno, a professional singer of Corsican and Genoese origin. He adopted his mother’s maiden name when his scholarly writing began to appear in 1938, perhaps reflecting his close attachment to her rather than to his remote father. His mother had borne her only child at age thirty-seven and lavished attention and resources on him, particularly with regard to “high” culture. His schooling included piano and composition training at a professional level (one teacher was Alban Berg) and philosophy with Edmund Husserl....
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Adorno, Theodor (1903-1969), social and political theorist, aesthetician, and atonalist musical composer
Alan Sica
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Cage, John (05 September 1912–12 August 1992), composer and philosopher
Laura Kuhn
Cage, John (05 September 1912–12 August 1992), composer and philosopher, was born John Milton Cage, Jr., in Los Angeles, California, the son of John Milton Cage, Sr., an inventor, and Lucretia Harvey, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Cage had early aspirations to be either a minister or a writer. In 1930, after two years at Pomona College, he went to Europe, where he studied architecture with Ernö Goldfinger and piano with Lazare Lévy in Paris. There he also began painting, writing poetry, and composing music. On his return to California in 1931, he studied composition with Richard Buhlig, developing a method employing two 25-tone ranges. He then moved to New York to learn more about harmony and music theory under the tutelage of Adolph Weiss; at the New School for Social Research in 1933, he also studied modern harmony, contemporary music, and Oriental and folk music with ...
