Nietzsche's Views on Wagner

Nietzsche's views on Wagner

Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, had a complex relationship with Richard Wagner, the German composer. Nietzsche was originally a great admirer of Wagner and considered him a genius, but their relationship eventually soured and Nietzsche became one of his harshest critics.

Nietzsche first met Wagner in 1868, when he was still a student. He was profoundly moved by Wagner's music and considered Wagner a kind of artistic and philosophical mentor. In "The Birth of Tragedy" (1872), Nietzsche praised Wagner's operas for being able to redeem modern society through a return to the primordial unity of art, symbolized by the Greek tragic drama. Nietzsche saw in Wagner's work a powerful synthesis of the Apollonian and Dionysian elements of art, which are respectively associated with order and chaos, reason and emotion.

However, Nietzsche later broke with Wagner, a shift marked by the publication of "Nietzsche Contra Wagner" (1888). Nietzsche criticized Wagner's later works, especially "Parsifal," which he saw as excessively Christian and ascetic, and thus a betrayal of the Dionysian. He also saw Wagner as a symptom of the decadence and nihilism that he diagnosed in European society, because he thought Wagner's music lacked discipline, moderation, and a respect for classical form.

Nietzsche's critique of Wagner also had a personal dimension. He disapproved of what he saw as Wagner's excessive pride, egoism, and manipulation. He also resented the influence of Wagner's wife, Cosima, and her influence on the composer's ideological trajectory. In sum, Nietzsche's views on Wagner evolved from admiration to rejection and severe critique, reflecting the broader shifts in his own philosophical thinking.