The Music of Dada

A lesson in intermediality for our times

The Music of Dada provides a historical analysis of music at Dada events, and asks why accounts of Dada have so consistently ignored musics vital presence, explaining how music has related to the other arts ever since the days of Dada. The music of Dada is the key to understanding intermediality in our time.

100 years after the Dada soires rocked the art world, the author investigates the role that music played in the movement. Dada is generally thought of as noisy and unmusical, but The Music of Dada shows that music was at the core of Dada theory and practice. Music (by Schoenberg, Satie and many others) performed on the piano played a central role in the soires, from the beginnings in Zurich, in 1916, to the end in Paris and Holland, seven years later. The Music of Dada provides a historical analysis of music at Dada events, and asks why accounts of Dada have so c