On September 28, 1959, Theodor W. Adorno gave a lecture called "The Idea of New Music” (Die Idee der neuen Musik) in Kassel. The presentation, which he was invited to make by the Volkshochschule Kassel and by the documenta Gesellschaft, took place in the Murhardsaal of the America House. Adorno then repeated the lecture in a radio broadcast (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, February 16, 1960). After half a century, the German philosopher—and former student of Adorno—Albrecht Wellmer re-performs the lecture, as well as giving his commentary on it. Wellmer himself was awarded the Theodor W. Adorno Prize for his outstanding work in the field of philosophy and music.
This lecture also inaugurates What is Thinking? Or a Taste That Hates Itself, a philosophy seminar initiated by Christoph Menke.