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Wagneri juhtum. Nietzsche contra Wagner
Vahetult enne oma vaimset murdumist 1889. aasta jaanuari esimestel päevadel Torinos valmis saksa filosoofil Friedrich Nietzschel (1844–1900) viis teost, millest kaks olid pühendatud helilooja Richard Wagnerile, näitamaks tema alustrajavat rolli mitte ainult muusika, vaid kogu Euroopa kunsti allakäigus. Miks otsustas Nietzsche, kes oli filosoofina tuule tiibadesse saanud just Wagneri isiku ja loomingu innustusel, lõpetada selle vaimse suhte nii ränga akordiga?
Nietzsche ideoloogilisi põhjendusi analüüsib ja täiendab psühholoogilise nurga alt tõlkija Jaan Unduski järelsõna.
Nietzsche ideoloogilisi põhjendusi analüüsib ja täiendab psühholoogilise nurga alt tõlkija Jaan Unduski järelsõna.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1888
About the author
Friedrich Nietzsche
3,958 books26.8k followersFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
March 9, 2024
mind tabas arusaam, et nietzsche ja wagner olid nagu kanye ja jay-z. kanye imetles jay-z’d, tahtis olla tema väike vend, aga lõpuks sai koostööst (watch the throne) võitu ego, sest väikevend ei tahtnud enam väikevennaks jääda. ja muidugi sai ühest antisemiit, aga siin mul läheb kanye/nietzsche jay/wagner võrdlus veidi sassi. nojah
April 8, 2020
Nietzsche Wagner'i duygusuz olmakla suçluyor, bir ölçüde katılıyorum. Wagner'in müziğinin açıklanmaya ihtiyaç duymasını eleştiriyor. Wagner'in zor anlaşılmaktan değil, müziğinin zor anlaşılamamasından korktuğunu söylüyor.
Wagner'in dürüstlüğü önemli, sadece teknik buluş yapıyor, dürüst değil, diyor.
"Müzik yalan söyleme sanatı olmayacaktır." (sf.43)
Son olarak, Wagner bize neye mal oldu başlıklı yazısı geçmişten, Hitler'i öngörmüşçesine yazılmış gibi.
Wagner Olayı'nı bu şekilde bitirsek de Nietzsche'nin Wagner'le ilişkisi hep gelgitli. Nietzsche Wagner'e Karşı'nın başlangıcında ona hayran olduğunu söylemeyi de ihmal etmiyor.
Wagner'in dürüstlüğü önemli, sadece teknik buluş yapıyor, dürüst değil, diyor.
"Müzik yalan söyleme sanatı olmayacaktır." (sf.43)
Son olarak, Wagner bize neye mal oldu başlıklı yazısı geçmişten, Hitler'i öngörmüşçesine yazılmış gibi.
Wagner Olayı'nı bu şekilde bitirsek de Nietzsche'nin Wagner'le ilişkisi hep gelgitli. Nietzsche Wagner'e Karşı'nın başlangıcında ona hayran olduğunu söylemeyi de ihmal etmiyor.
February 26, 2024
In regards to this book in general:
Nietzsche could have said all of the main points in a couple of pages but instead becomes almost Wagneresque in his "unending melody" of poetic whining.
Loomingu Raamatukogu kohta:
Tegu on totaalselt skisofreenilise kogemusega. Kaks Nietzsche teksti olid minu jaoks peaaegu loetamatud, sest need ei jõua välja mitte kuhugi ja enamus aega on tegu lihtsalt keelelise ja mõttelise ilulemisega ümber Wagneri palava pudru. See tähendab, et sisuliselt võiks kõiki Nietzsche poolt Wagneri vastu toodud argumente tuua ka tema enda vastu. Veidikenegi heledam lapp muidu tinaraskes taevas on "Wagneri juhtumi" esimene järelkiri.
Aga parafraseerides Unduski järelsõna on Nietzsche eeskätt näitemänguline anne, afektide ja efektide otsija, mõõdu- ja pieteeditundeta, vägivaldne kolossaalsuse taotleja...
Seevastu Unduski järelsõna on minule, kes ma Nietzsche ja Wagneri küsimustest varasemalt vaid pealiskaudselt teadsin, tõeliselt hädavajalik lugemine, mis avas päris kõvasti minu arusaamu ja mõistmist. "XXI sajandi vaateveerult [milline sõna!] võime kinnitada, et nõnda see tegelikult toimuski: Nietzsche ja Wagner üheskoos, teineteise valusas haardes, lõidki saksa kultuurile uue aluse. Keegi teine ei kujundanud XX sajandi alguse vaimseid pürgimusi rohkem kui nemad."
Seega soovitus: sirvi kiirelt natuke esimest kuutekümmet lehekülge, et saada keeleline mekk suhu ja mine siis raamatu tõelise tuuma juurde. Kõik need tärnid annan ma järelsõna eest ja kõik ülejäänud võtan maha kaanel kirjas olevate tekstide tõttu.
Nietzsche could have said all of the main points in a couple of pages but instead becomes almost Wagneresque in his "unending melody" of poetic whining.
Loomingu Raamatukogu kohta:
Tegu on totaalselt skisofreenilise kogemusega. Kaks Nietzsche teksti olid minu jaoks peaaegu loetamatud, sest need ei jõua välja mitte kuhugi ja enamus aega on tegu lihtsalt keelelise ja mõttelise ilulemisega ümber Wagneri palava pudru. See tähendab, et sisuliselt võiks kõiki Nietzsche poolt Wagneri vastu toodud argumente tuua ka tema enda vastu. Veidikenegi heledam lapp muidu tinaraskes taevas on "Wagneri juhtumi" esimene järelkiri.
Aga parafraseerides Unduski järelsõna on Nietzsche eeskätt näitemänguline anne, afektide ja efektide otsija, mõõdu- ja pieteeditundeta, vägivaldne kolossaalsuse taotleja...
Seevastu Unduski järelsõna on minule, kes ma Nietzsche ja Wagneri küsimustest varasemalt vaid pealiskaudselt teadsin, tõeliselt hädavajalik lugemine, mis avas päris kõvasti minu arusaamu ja mõistmist. "XXI sajandi vaateveerult [milline sõna!] võime kinnitada, et nõnda see tegelikult toimuski: Nietzsche ja Wagner üheskoos, teineteise valusas haardes, lõidki saksa kultuurile uue aluse. Keegi teine ei kujundanud XX sajandi alguse vaimseid pürgimusi rohkem kui nemad."
Seega soovitus: sirvi kiirelt natuke esimest kuutekümmet lehekülge, et saada keeleline mekk suhu ja mine siis raamatu tõelise tuuma juurde. Kõik need tärnid annan ma järelsõna eest ja kõik ülejäänud võtan maha kaanel kirjas olevate tekstide tõttu.
June 18, 2018
Holy shit.
Never have I seen such a relentless and unapologetic beat-down of a man as with Nietzsche's assessment of Wagner and his music in 'The Case of Wagner'.
Having not read anything in the way of a rebuttal from Wagner this essay reads like the metaphorical representation of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, only the immovable object is now made from wet tissue paper and ghosts.
Only in Rian 'head-like-a-fuckin'-orange' Johnson's depiction of Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' have I seen a more barbarous emasculation of a beloved cultural icon.
Even in jest Nietzsche somehow further abandons any semblance of self-restraint and, with each insult made, conjures up the image of a Roman soldier lifting up his bloodied cat-o-nine-tails with which he proceeds to flail the helpless Jesus Christ again and again until he finally stops moving (a la Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ') before flailing his lingering body some more for having the gall to merely exist and thus drag the whole of civilisation down with him by the weight of his unjustly lauded incompetence.
Wagner, to date, is the only man in documented history to die twice - Once by heart attack, and once by murder, the details of which are proudly displayed on every page of this book. Each paragraph a stab so powerful it inspired the aforementioned Jesus Christ to momentarily bequeath his powers of resurrection unto Julius Caesar so that he may raise himself out from the parking lot currently cemented over his Roman gravesite long enough to scan over the book and conclude that his own demise was infinitesimally vitriolic by comparison before muttering under his breath... 'Damn.
That was cold.'
5 stars.
Never have I seen such a relentless and unapologetic beat-down of a man as with Nietzsche's assessment of Wagner and his music in 'The Case of Wagner'.
Having not read anything in the way of a rebuttal from Wagner this essay reads like the metaphorical representation of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, only the immovable object is now made from wet tissue paper and ghosts.
Only in Rian 'head-like-a-fuckin'-orange' Johnson's depiction of Luke Skywalker in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' have I seen a more barbarous emasculation of a beloved cultural icon.
Even in jest Nietzsche somehow further abandons any semblance of self-restraint and, with each insult made, conjures up the image of a Roman soldier lifting up his bloodied cat-o-nine-tails with which he proceeds to flail the helpless Jesus Christ again and again until he finally stops moving (a la Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ') before flailing his lingering body some more for having the gall to merely exist and thus drag the whole of civilisation down with him by the weight of his unjustly lauded incompetence.
Wagner, to date, is the only man in documented history to die twice - Once by heart attack, and once by murder, the details of which are proudly displayed on every page of this book. Each paragraph a stab so powerful it inspired the aforementioned Jesus Christ to momentarily bequeath his powers of resurrection unto Julius Caesar so that he may raise himself out from the parking lot currently cemented over his Roman gravesite long enough to scan over the book and conclude that his own demise was infinitesimally vitriolic by comparison before muttering under his breath... 'Damn.
That was cold.'
5 stars.
November 9, 2018
Nietzsche slams Wagner
In this series of essays Nietzsche excoriates the composer Richard Wagner to the point that it's hard to see how the two men remained friends.
In this series of essays Nietzsche excoriates the composer Richard Wagner to the point that it's hard to see how the two men remained friends.
February 6, 2018
I spent more than 10 hours reading these short essays and looking into the various references and allusions that Nietzsche makes throughout. The Case of Wagner, I take it, is a lamentation about what Nietzsche perceived as the decay of society in general and music in particular, embodied by its decadence and nihilism, of which Wagner and Schopenhauer were the artist and philosopher in chief. Nietzsche believes Wagner is a failure because he is not an authentic or great musician, but instead an actor who cynically absorbs and perpetuates the culture of the masses at the expense of original, individual expression and creativity. Wagner apparently does this through his drama and grandiosity in theatrical arrangement and self-referential use of salvation as subject matter. For Nietzsche, Wagner both represents and cultivates the rise of Germanic ideals including nationalism and obedience to the common cause. He ties all this to his conceptions of master and slave moralities (from earlier works), which made a lot of sense in this context. The desire to formulate history as a science, which thinkers such as Marx, Tolstoy and Trotsky also attempted, does seem quaint and futile now though. There were some genuinely thrilling poetical moments as per the best of Nietzsche, but most of it was quite critical and analytical, and there were many of those confounded inconsistencies which are typical of his later writing. The translation was not a good one. It was inelegant at best and very crude at times.
March 10, 2021
Nietzsche ties late romanticism to mass society, decadence, and histrionics. A superb subtext says aesthetics is applied physiology.
August 11, 2019
reread this book, had read it when I was 14, realized how much it influenced my feeling going through a performing arts school even after forgetting all of the book, realized how much I developed past being an angsty teenager who hated everyone and was emo and read nietzsche because of how it would make them cool, and realized how much I still realized I agreed with his criticism of art past developing into someone who cared nothing for the years of my old sentimentalism. Nietzsche makes art it's own form of criticism and Sophocles on the same level of importance as Socrates. His fantastic ability to communalize and cognize the two in his own post Socratic model is amazing and admirable.
April 6, 2023
One of my favourite types of books to read are those where great minds write about other great minds. In Hemingway, A Movable Feast, this happens quite often, and that is one of the reasons why that book is one of my favourites (and of course because it is Hemingway).
That happens here, Nietzsche writes about his old close friend, the musician Richard Wagner.
I have always loved Wagner since I was a child, in this book Nietzsche really says everything bad that can be said about him, as a person and as a musician, although I love Wagner it was a pleasure to read how Nietzsche uses his words to bring him down.
That happens here, Nietzsche writes about his old close friend, the musician Richard Wagner.
I have always loved Wagner since I was a child, in this book Nietzsche really says everything bad that can be said about him, as a person and as a musician, although I love Wagner it was a pleasure to read how Nietzsche uses his words to bring him down.
August 5, 2007
Briefly: he didn't like him.
September 4, 2012
Der arme Nietzsche.... :-(
January 1, 2015
Le Cas Wagner / Nietzsche contre Wagner by Friedrich Nietzsche
Want to Read
April 19, 2017Download for free through Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25012...
March 22, 2024
Kesised esseed, väärt järelsõna.
August 28, 2026
Thoughts
Best to be read after his major works ('geneaology of morals' and 'beyond good and evil'). Nietzsche is basically exercising his novel system of thought to analyse his decade-old break up with Wagner. So he spends little time explaining what makes Wagner’s faults ‘faulty’. He assumes you already know what’s up.
I did find it nice to see an aesthetic which millitantly rejects the death of the author for "there can be no such strange divorce between a bloom and the plant on which it blows" (p. xxi).
What was Wagner's issue?
Wagner fundamentally was the "artist of decadence" (p. 11). Decadence for Nietzsche describes "philosophies, religions and arts which spring from weakness" (Huszar 2005).
The weakness Wagner exemplified was the self-denial of Christianity, a "diseased eyesight" (p. 49), for "Wagner pondered over nothing do deeply as over salvation" (p. 6). The plot of Wagner’s plays do not vindicate life, but the "redemption from it" (Scruton). Only through the self-sacrifice of ones humanity can one be free of "conflicts with which human communities are poisoned" (Scruton). Life no longer 'animate[d] the whole'. Wagner’s music was thus a "composed, reckoned up, artificial, a fictitious thing" (p. 19). His music did nothing but "flatter every nihilistic ... instinct" (p. 39).
Because Christian morality is the antithesis of master-morality (that which "justifies itself, solely as being the outcome of a plenitude, or a superabundance of strength" (p. 48)) he is an actor. He is an actor insofar as an actor holds that "everything which has to strike people as true, must not be true" (p. 24).
Who then if not Wagner?
It is Bizet. Bizet's 'gaiety', completeness, and lightness illuminates thought and find. It is good insofar as it is both 'easy', and 'productive'.
Best to be read after his major works ('geneaology of morals' and 'beyond good and evil'). Nietzsche is basically exercising his novel system of thought to analyse his decade-old break up with Wagner. So he spends little time explaining what makes Wagner’s faults ‘faulty’. He assumes you already know what’s up.
I did find it nice to see an aesthetic which millitantly rejects the death of the author for "there can be no such strange divorce between a bloom and the plant on which it blows" (p. xxi).
What was Wagner's issue?
Wagner fundamentally was the "artist of decadence" (p. 11). Decadence for Nietzsche describes "philosophies, religions and arts which spring from weakness" (Huszar 2005).
The weakness Wagner exemplified was the self-denial of Christianity, a "diseased eyesight" (p. 49), for "Wagner pondered over nothing do deeply as over salvation" (p. 6). The plot of Wagner’s plays do not vindicate life, but the "redemption from it" (Scruton). Only through the self-sacrifice of ones humanity can one be free of "conflicts with which human communities are poisoned" (Scruton). Life no longer 'animate[d] the whole'. Wagner’s music was thus a "composed, reckoned up, artificial, a fictitious thing" (p. 19). His music did nothing but "flatter every nihilistic ... instinct" (p. 39).
Because Christian morality is the antithesis of master-morality (that which "justifies itself, solely as being the outcome of a plenitude, or a superabundance of strength" (p. 48)) he is an actor. He is an actor insofar as an actor holds that "everything which has to strike people as true, must not be true" (p. 24).
Who then if not Wagner?
It is Bizet. Bizet's 'gaiety', completeness, and lightness illuminates thought and find. It is good insofar as it is both 'easy', and 'productive'.
January 29, 2021
I did not care for this translation, published by Fisher Unwin in 1911. You'd know I would receive the Stanford U version (v. 9) on the day I finished this.
Reading Ross on Wagnernism led me to pursue Nietzsche's thoughts as well as the Poetic Edda and the Nibelunglied. Much that N. has to say about Wagner might apply to a recent President of the US. As a philosopher, however, N. finds in Wagner the quintessence of modernism, decadence, and credits his overcoming of his infatuation with Wagner as "the greatest event in [his] life" (p 21). There is much here, but, of course, for N., decadence led to the ubiquity of what was known in the late nineteenth century as "Christianity" (aphorisms). He suggests that Parsifal is a sign of Wagner's movement toward, of all things, Catholicism. But it is not this tendency itself that concerns N., rather, the false Teutonism of Wagner's creations and the ineptitude of the Germans themselves in grasping it.
"Expressiveness at all costs, which is what the Wagnerian ideal--the ideal of decadence--
demands, is hardly compatible with talent. All that is required for this is virtue--that is to say,
training, automatism, "self-denial". Neither taste, voices, nor gifts, Wagner's stage requires but but (p 44) one thing: Germans! . . . The definition of a German: an obedient man with long
legs" (pp 44-45). . . .
One must admit that Nietzsche's contempt for the Germans had "long legs" as well.
Reading Ross on Wagnernism led me to pursue Nietzsche's thoughts as well as the Poetic Edda and the Nibelunglied. Much that N. has to say about Wagner might apply to a recent President of the US. As a philosopher, however, N. finds in Wagner the quintessence of modernism, decadence, and credits his overcoming of his infatuation with Wagner as "the greatest event in [his] life" (p 21). There is much here, but, of course, for N., decadence led to the ubiquity of what was known in the late nineteenth century as "Christianity" (aphorisms). He suggests that Parsifal is a sign of Wagner's movement toward, of all things, Catholicism. But it is not this tendency itself that concerns N., rather, the false Teutonism of Wagner's creations and the ineptitude of the Germans themselves in grasping it.
"Expressiveness at all costs, which is what the Wagnerian ideal--the ideal of decadence--
demands, is hardly compatible with talent. All that is required for this is virtue--that is to say,
training, automatism, "self-denial". Neither taste, voices, nor gifts, Wagner's stage requires but but (p 44) one thing: Germans! . . . The definition of a German: an obedient man with long
legs" (pp 44-45). . . .
One must admit that Nietzsche's contempt for the Germans had "long legs" as well.
December 29, 2022
To say I fully understood this selection of works by Nietzsche on Wagner would be overstating my knowledge of Wagner's music, 19th century movements in European music generally, and Nietzsche himself. Nonetheless, the real pain that separating from Wagner caused Nietzsche comes through in strong, sad ways. As the editor/translator rightly points out, this is not simply a separation based on either religious differences or tawdry personal vendettas- Nietzsche's friendship with Wagner was one deeper than many of us will ever experience. The two lived together intermittently, shared loves (both personal and philosophical), and considered each other allies in the same movement. This came to an end with a realisation that they were on very different paths all along, and this caused a crisis of confidence in Nietzsche which belies the underlying theme of these polemics - that anyone seeking true fulfilment must be ready to take heavy blows to their ego and their personal comfort to have any hope of achieving it.
August 19, 2025
Some of nietzsche's best aphorisms of all time are here, his critique of wagner is part hilarious and part brilliant, this is really a powerful, energetic polemic, in a microcosm his disdain for wagner and Schopenhauer's (who wagner was heavily influenced by) philosophy of life denial and pessimism, but that would be a superficial judgement, his disgust lies not with wagner specifically but what he symbolizes and aspires to, that Nietzsche sees as venomous and self obstructive to higher excellence and "tragic joy" from existence, his glorification of Beethoven is partly that exact inversion, all in all, a beautiful smite at nihilistic idealism or naive idealism, along with some of the most brilliant passages Nietzsche has ever conceived of
December 30, 2025
This book is rather loose - as Nietzsche was not able to polish and finish it. Nietzsche’s attacks on Wagner were mainly an attack on modern music - popular, sentimental, loud, leveling, technical, commercial, dramatic, and similar. Instead of inspiring restless and high spirits to go even further; Wagner’s music was a place of rest and a narcotic for tired working masses, for complacent and satiated bourgeois, and a self-confirmation for other decadent people; that is, it was a prefiguration of modern and popular music as we have it today. To Nietzsche, Wagner’s music initiated this transition, vulgarization, and decay of what music was and should be.
June 11, 2024
Continuous claims without proof. He claims much about the supposed opposition Wagner has to Nietzschean ideals but never truly explains why. Why does the leitmotif contradict a unified message? Why why why? Neither convincing nor a particularly enjoyable read, reads much more like a blogpost written out of spite. A blemish on Nietzsche’s significant catalogue.
The only thing I felt compelled to by this writing was to rewatch Parsifal, a true story of an Overman.
The only thing I felt compelled to by this writing was to rewatch Parsifal, a true story of an Overman.
April 2, 2022
Nietzsche's critiques of Wagner as well as his examination of the effects of his parting from his former mentor and friend. In the case of Wagner he discusses Wagner's growing emphasis on Volkish themes and antisemitism. Luckily for Wagner he did not allow Nietzsche to influence his career as the Volkish "Der Ring es Nibelungen" is considered to be his greatest work.
September 3, 2017
By using somewhat obscure language Nietzsche describes the Wagner's 'vulgarization' of music and theater with his persistent pursuit of agitating the senses. Food for thought.
Read
April 8, 2020meh.
Currently Reading
October 13, 2020Available in the public domain thanks to the volunteers at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52166
March 19, 2021
"Wagner belongs only to my diseases"
... and so on ...
Brutal.
... and so on ...
Brutal.
March 23, 2022
Fred woulda hated marvel movies and he was correct
April 20, 2023
This helps understand Nietzsche in the context of Romanticism. Powerful writing!
Read
August 3, 2025The cold never asked permission.
August 8, 2026
È sempre nic
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews