Unless they exist in an English translation, Adorno’s writings are quoted from the German edition, Gesammelte Schriften (edited by Rolf Tiedemann in collaboration with Gretel Adorno, Susan Buck-Morss and Klaus Schultz), listed below. The English translations from which quotations are taken are also listed. The following abbreviations are used:
| GS 1 | Philosophische Früh schriften, 2nd edition, 1990 |
| GS 2 | Kierkegaard. Konstruktion des Ästhetischen, 2nd edition, 1990 |
| GS 3 | Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialektik der Aufklärung. Philosophische Fragmente, 2nd edition, 1984 |
| Translation: Dialectic of Enlightenment, transi, by John Cumming, London, Verso, 1979 | |
| GS 4 | Minima Moralia. Reflexionen aus dem beschädigten Leben, 1980 |
| Translation: Minima Moralia. Reflections from Damaged Life, transi, by Edmund Jephcott, London, Verso, 1974 | |
| GS 5 | Zur Metakritik der Erkenntnistheorie/Drei Studien zu Hegel, 3rd edition, 1990 |
| GS 6 | Negative Dialektik/Jargon der Eigentlichkeit, 4th edition, 1990 |
| Translation: Negative Dialectics, transi, by E.B. Ashton, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973 | |
| GS 7 | Ästhetische Theorie, 5th edition, 1990 |
| Translations: Aesthetic Theory, transi, by C. Lenhardt, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984; Aesthetic Theory, transi, by Robert Hullot-Kentor, London, Athlone Press, 1997 | |
| GS 8 | Soziologische Schriften I, 3rd edition, 1990 |
| GS 10.1 | Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft I: Prismen/Ohne Leitbild, 1977 |
| Translation: Prisms, transi, by Samuel and Shierry Weber, London, Spearman, 1967 | |
| GS 10.2 | Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft II: EingriffelStichwortelAnhang, 1977 |
| GS 11 | Noten zur Literatur, 3rd edition, 1990 |
| GS 12 | Philosophie der neuen Musik, 2nd edition, 1990 |
| Translation: Philosophy of Modern Music, transi, by Anne G. Mitchell and Wesley V. Blomster, New York, Seabury Press, 1973 | |
| GS 13 | Die musikalischen Monographien, 3rd edition, 1985 |
| Translation of monograph on Mahler: Mahler. A Musical Physiognomy, transi, by Edmund Jephcott, Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1992 | |
| GS 14 | Dissonanzen/Einleitung in die Musiksoziologie, 3rd edition, 1990 |
| Translation: Introduction to the Sociology of Music, transi, by E.B. Ashton, New York, Continuum, 1976 | |
| GS 15 | Theodor W. Adorno and Hanns Eisler, Komposition für den Film! |
| Theodor W. Adorno, Der getreue Korrepititor, 1976 | |
| GS 16 | Musikalische Schriften I-III: Klangfiguren/Quasi una fantasia/Musikalische Schriften III, 2nd edition, 1990 |
| Translation: Quasi una fantasia: Essays on Music and Culture, transi, by Rodney Livingstone, London, Verso, 1992 | |
| GS 17 | Musikalische Schriften IV: Moments musicaux/Impromptus, 1982 |
| GS 18 | Musikalische Schriften V, 1984 |
| GS 19 | Musikalische Schriften VI, 1984 |
Bibliographical data on two works on Beethoven frequently quoted by Adorno should also be given here; from the second quotation onwards they are referred to only by the author’s name, followed by the title:
Paul Bekker, Beethoven. 2nd edition, Berlin undated [1912].
Wolfgang A. Thomas-San-Galli, Ludwig van Beethoven. Mit vielen Porträts, Notenbeispielen und Handschriftenfaksimiles, Munich 1913.
Numbers preceded by ‘fr.’ refer to the sequential numbering of the individual fragments; in the text section of this edition, these numbers are to be found in square brackets at the end of each fragment.