Theorizing Affect in Mahler

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines ways of theorizing affect in Mahler’s music, focusing on reading Adorno’s material theory of form as an affective theory of form, and shedding light on the potential critiques that this reading may face, and, more broadly, the ramifications it holds for Mahler studies and affect studies. It begins with an exploration of the dialectical nature of Adorno’s material theory of form, then posits that one’s affective experience of the categories laid out in the theory can be theorized by what Adorno calls the ‘shudder’ in the form of an ungraspable petrification. After discussing two other theoretical angles in literature on Mahler through which my reading of Adorno’s Formenlehre can be evaluated, the article throws into relief how Adorno’s affective theory of form may contribute to affect studies in simultaneously subjecting affect and music to critique.