Margins of Music

Abstract

The poetics of Marko Radmio (1910–1996) was marked by the rejection of the concept of “composer,” with the argument that the term implies the reduction of that which is musical to knowledge and technique. In contrast, in the forgotten German expression Tondichter (tone poet) Radmio found preserved the essence of the musical and therefore used this term when trying to designate his own activities. In this paper, the consequences of this change are explored both through Radmio’s music and through his thoughts on music.