the dating of seiber/adorno papers held by the

THE DATING OF SEIBER/ADORNO PAPERS HELD BY
THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Evelyn Wilcock
T H E welcome publication by Nick Chadwick
of Matyas Seiber's comments on Theodor
Wiesengrund Adorno's jazz research proposal
(the 'Expose') of January 1936 and their
correspondence during the subsequent writing
of Adorno's essay 'On Jazz' ('Uber Jazz')^
provides valuable insight into their co-operation." Seiber's assistance was publicly acknowledged by Adorno both in 1936 when he
sent Seiber the proofs of the article, which
included a full acknowledgement, and again in
1953 when Adorno defended himself against
criticism of 'Uber Jazz' by the German jazz
expert, Joachim Ernst Berendt.^ However, any
appraisal of the extent to which Seiber infiuenced Adorno or persuaded him to moderate
the views expressed in 'On Jazz' may be
hampered by Chadwick's assumption that
Seiber's comments on Adorno's jazz research
proposal reached him only after 'On Jazz' had
gone to press.
The normative view of the course of events
during the writing of 'LJber Jazz' by Adorno,
is based on the correspondence between
Adorno and Max Horkheimer, held in the
Archive of the University of Frankfurt and in
part now published by the archivist Dr Schmid
Noerr."* Seiber's communications with Horkheimer and Adorno deposited in the British
Library^ provide no grounds for challenging
this view, or the likelihood that Adorno
received Seiber's criticisms of his research
proposal before completing his article 'On
Jazz', that is before 6 May 1936. Although
correspondence from Adorno to Seiber is
dated, Seiber's own pencil notes and drafts for
his letters are not.
Adorno's original intention had been to set
up a research project on Jazz to be financed by
the Frankfurt am Main Institute of Social
Research, then in forced exile from Germany
and being re-established in New York under its
Director, Professor Max Horkheimer. As
Chadwick explains, Matyas Seiber had taught
a pioneering jazz class in the Frankfurt Conservatoire and when he too came as an exile to
London Adorno met him in early January 1936
as a potential expert colleague on the jazz
research project. On 26 January 1936 Adorno
sent the ensuing ' Expose' to both Horkheimer
and Seiber; the copy sent to Seiber may now be
read in the British Library. Seiber's comments
on the ' Expose' survive in a continuous pencil
draft (Add. MS. 62886, ff. 163-176) of a letter
to Adorno, headed ' L . H. W.' i.e. Lieber Herr
Wiesengrund.^ In this letter Seiber apologizes
for a delay due to illness. Chadwick in conversation with the author explained that he linked
this to good wishes for Seiber's * recovery' in
Adorno's letter of 14 October 1936 and, as a
result, assumed that Seiber's letter was written
in October or later.
Meeting Seiber in January 1936 had disappointed Adorno. Seiber had less specialist information to contribute than had been anticipated. It was Adorno who then suggested that.
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if the Institute did not proceed with a full
survey, his research proposal might provide the
basis for a preliminary essay on Jazz which
could be published in the Journal of the Institute of Social Research.^ This Horkheimer
approved but Adorno had no time to write the
article 'On Jazz' until the Easter vacation of
1936 in Germany. When Adorno got back to
London in late April he sent a telegram to
Horkheimer to enquire about the last possible
deadline, explaining that his *Jazz Adviser' was
ill.^ This was presumably Seiber. On 29 April
Adorno wrote that he was returning to Oxford
and would complete the jazz essay.^ Since
Adorno incorporated some of Seiber's suggestions in his article, one must assume that he
received them before completing the article
and giving it to Friedrich Pollock, the CoDirector of the Institute, to take back to
Horkheimer in New York on 6 May.
Seiber's additional observations on his dealings with the music industry and colleagues
survive as separate undated pages of pencil
notes.^'^ Seiber's report to Horkheimer extends
and rearranges the seven sheets of notes in the
draft. Seiber's observations had been solicited
by Adorno in his letter of 28 May 1936 and
were forwarded by Adorno to Horkheimer
soon after 25 June 1936, with a condescending
warning about their naivety.^^ Seiber's opening
'Sehr geehrter Herr Dr.' indicates that the
letter was addressed to Horkheimer and not, as
Chadwick assumes, to Adorno whom Seiber
habitually addressed as 'Lieber'. The report/
letter to Professor Max Horkheimer which
survives in the Horkheimer papers at the
University of Frankfurt am Main was published in full by Chadwick.
When Adorno received Seiber's report to
Horkheimer on 20 June 1936, his response to
Seiber, written the same day, reveals that he
had not previously seen the material, though he
remarks on its coincidence with his own view.
It is clear from the same letter that he did not
receive the comments on the 'Expose' at the
time, for he mentions that Seiber should
same
already have received the manuscript of'Uber
Jazz' and will see that he (Adorno) has^given
consideration to Seiber's comments. 'Uber
Jazz' does indeed include fuller discussion by
Adorno of points made by Seiber in his comments on the 'Expose' and the proofs opened
with a prominent acknowledgement and thanks
for Seiber's contribution.
On 13 October Adorno was able to send the
printed 'Uber Jazz' to Seiber and ask for the
return of the manuscript. His mentioning the
excision of sexual material between manuscript
and proof stage suggests that no other substantial alterations were made once the manuscript was sent off in May.
The publication by Chadwick of Seiber's
comments on the 'Expose' of January 1936
makes it possible to appreciate the extent to
which Adorno adopted or resisted his suggestions. Not all Adorno's concessions to Seiber's
apparent expertise can be regarded as improvements: Adorno's original notes on the special
role of the saxophone in jazz and of its affinity
with the human voice in parts i and 4 of the
'Expose' are lost in the extended discussion.
Seiber's notes to Horkheimer are based on
his personal precise observation of the musical
development of jazz and its exploitation by the
music publishing business. Seiber's observations, which include an account of the publication of William Grosz's hit tune 'The Isle of
Capri' and an encounter with a film composer
'N. B.' of world renown, possibly Nacio Herb
Brown, composer of'Singing in the Rain', are
a useful historical source. Also evident from
Seiber's report is the commercial connection
between the publishing of popular and serious
music which may have prompted Adorno to
extend his critique of the culture industry to
serious music in 'The Fetish Character in
Music' written the following year.^'^ Seiber
makes little contribution to the still challenging
social, psychological and ethnic thesis of'Uber
Jazz' and his professional corrections some-
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times seem to obscure the clear and radical
view given by the untutored Adorno in the
original 'Expose'.
Seiber arrived in Britain over a year later
than Adorno. His deposited papers reveal his
continued interest in Jazz and the extent to
1 Theodor Adorno writing as Hektor Rottweiler,
'Uber Jazz', Zeitschrift fur Sozialforschung, v/2
(1936), pp. 235-59, reprinted with variations in
Moments Musicaux (Frankfurt am Main:
Suhrkamp, 1964) and published in T. W.
Adorno, Gesammelte Schriften, ed. Rolf Tiedemann (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 197086), vol. xvii, pp. 74-108. For an English
translation, see 'On Jazz', trans. Jamie Owen
Daniel, Discourse., xii/i (Fall/Winter 1989-90),
pp. 45-69.
2 Nick Chadwick, 'Matyas Seiber's collaboration
in Adorno's Jazz Project 1936', British Library
Journal, xxi (1995), pp. 259-88. The 'Expose'
and related correspondence are Add. MS. 62886,
ff. 132-176.
3 'Fiir und wider den Jazz', Merkur (Sept. 1953),
and (Adorno only) 'Replik zu einer Kritik der
"Zeitlosen Mode"', Gesammelte Schriften, vol.
x/2, pp. 805-9.
4 Max Horkheimer, Gesammelte Schriften, vols.
xv-xviii, Briefwechsel, ed. Gunzelin Schmid
Noerr (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Verlag,
1995)5 Add. MS. 62886, ff. 156-176 (pencil notes and
drafts); Add. MS. 62886, f. 132, and Dep. 9319
(letters).
6 Ff. 163-176 differ from the other pencil drafts
(ff. 156-162) in that the pages bear one horizontal
fold and the draft letter is written throughout on
one side of the paper only; f 167V bears the draft
of a letter to the Home Office on behalf of a
person who arrived at Dover on 17 April 1936,
applying for permission to remain in Britain for
another two months.
7 Frankfurt, Stadt- und Universitatsbibliothek,
Horkheimer Archive [hereafter HA]: letter,
Adorno to Horkheimer, 26 Jan. 1936, unpublished.
which he eventually engaged in British jazz
debates, criticizing the views of Percy Scholes
and endorsing those of Spike Hughes, reactions
which might be expected from a friend and
colleague of Adorno's.'13
8 HA: wire, Adorno to Horkheimer, 25 Apr. 1936,
unpublished.
9 HA: letter, Adorno to Horkheimer, unpublished.
10 The pencil drafts by Seiber are all on the same
size small cream paper. The pages are unnumbered and undated and therefore present
problems of ordering and dating.
Using the report to Horkheimer as a guide to
ff. 156—162, one may identify at least two and
possibly five sets of notes. They have vertical as
well as horizontal fold marks and with the
exception of f. 158 are written on both sides of
the paper. The first series of notes is f. i56r with
I of f. 156V. The second fragment is f i57r
and the whole of 157V, concluding on f. i58r;
f i59r contains three separate notes, the
conclusion being squeezed in on 159V; that
beginning on f. i6or runs onto f. i6ov. The final
section, starting on f. 161, runs onto f 162, both
sheets written on both sides of the paper.
11 HA: Adorno to Horkheimer, 25 June 1936. The
corrected proofs of 'On Jazz' were sent at the
same time.
12 Theodor W. Adorno, 'Uber den Fetischcharakter in der Musik und die Regression des
Hdrens', Zeitschrift fiir Sozialforschung, vii
(1938), and Gesammelte Schriften, vol. xiv,
pp. 14—50. An English translation, 'On the
Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression
of Listening' appears in Andrew Arato, Eike
Gebhardt and Paul Piccone (eds.). Essential
Frankfurt
School Reader (New
York:
Continuum, 1982; repr. 1993), pp. 270-99.
13 See, for example, Seiber's notes for a talk to the
London Philharmonic Qub 17 May 1943. For
the British background to 'On Jazz' see Evelyn
Wilcock, 'Adorno, Jazz and Racism: "Uber
Jazz" and the 1934-7 British Jazz Debate',
Telos, cvii (1996), pp. 63—80.
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