The seminar provides an opportunity to study some of the seminal texts of Critical Theory dealing with music. Concentrating on Theodor Adorno's writings on music, we will also include key philosophers who informed Adorno's thinking (in particular Kant, Hegel and Nietzsche), influential nineteenth-century aesthetics of music (Hoffmann, Schopenhauer and Hanslick), other contemporaries of Adorno (for example, Ernst Bloch), and some later authors whose work was influenced by the Frankfurt School (such as Carl Dahlhaus). We will also consider the impact of Critical Theory on recent scholarship. Weekly meetings will be organized around various topics, ranging from central concepts such as "Enlightenment" and "musical material" to individual composers. Music by Wagner, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Weill will feature prominently on the syllabus.