Thomas Bernhard’s love of music flows into his literary work in an extremely varied way. Musicians, composers and their works inspire Bernhard and are often the basis of the thematic or structural disposition. In the plays, the music takes on a dramaturgical function, since Bernhard overcomes the limits of language with the aesthetics of the music. Susanna Loeffler examines Bernhard’s musical design in all its dimensions and effects and shows that the author’s musical references go far beyond mere name dropping and are part of a carefully thought-out concept that is coordinated in every detail.