Media and social change: Listening to music in “The Magic Mountain”

From a musicology and media studies perspective, “The Magic Mountain” shows the line of development from early gramophones to today’s headphones.

Thomas Mann, half-profile to the left, with folded arms, standing at a record player, looking down.

A brand new gramophone plays music on the “Magic Mountain” and fascinates the protagonist. The second video in the “Magic Mountain” anniversary series sheds light on this topic. Thomas Mann describes the media modernisation in detail. Hans Castorp’s personal development from ‘DJ’ in a social gathering to solitary music lover and critic reflects a social upheaval: How do technological advances enable and condition new forms of entertainment? What impact do they have on social life? Dr Michelle Ziegler, music and media scientist at the Chair for History of Technology at ETH Zurich, answers these questions.

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“The Magic Mountain” was published exactly one hundred years ago. We are celebrating this anniversary with a wealth of inspiring events and activities centred around Thomas Mann’s novel – at home and abroad, with films, readings and a proper celebration. Learn more

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