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Nietzsche-Wagner, to January, 1872

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

T. Moody Campbell
T. Moody Campbell*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
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Extract

Although a great deal has been written on the relation between Nietzsche and Wagner, no detailed study has been made hitherto of the period indicated in the title of this paper. And even here a comprehensive treatment of the relation is not attempted. Only one phase of it is considered. The question proposed is: What was Nietzsche's opinion of Wagner's music-dramas when he wrote the final version of Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik? A chronological survey of Nietzche's notes, letters, and shorter essays of the period has been made, as far as they bear on the nature of tragedy in general and more specifically on its relation to music. His ideas are discussed in their development and in their relation to the theories of Wagner and of Schopenhauer on music and poetry, in the hope that at least a few of the lines in the vexed and vexing Nietzsche–Wagner record may be deciphered more clearly.

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Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 1941, pp. 544 - 577
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1941

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References

Note 1 in page 544 Friedrich Nietzsche, Werke, Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe, C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (München, 1933 f.), ii, 89, 114.—The editorial comment on p. 114, “Anfang fehlt,” is misleading, as it is obvious that the passage on p. 114 is a direct continuation of the one on p. 89.

Note 2 in page 545 So in the text.

Note 3 in page 545 Op. cit., ii, 114.

Note 4 in page 545 Op. cit., ii, 364 f.—Nietzsche's remarks on the conception of fate in this tragedy are also of importance. Fate in Sophocles is said to be something unfathomable and by no means a balancing of individual sin and punishment. Yet it is compatible with a moral order; it is necessary, ethical, in fact the highest possible conception. Nietzsche's view here is essentially Emersonian. He was much attracted by Emerson at this time. cf. GR, xii, 252 f. This view of fate in Sophocles, stripped of its moral aspect, is confirmed by Nietzsche in Die Geburt der Tragödie.

Note 5 in page 545 Op. cit., ii, 375.

Note 6 in page 546 Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft had appeared in 1850, Oper und Drama in 1851. Nietzsche was obviously familiar with the ideas set forth in these works.

Note 7 in page 546 Op. cit., iii, 298.

Note 8 in page 547 Op. cit., iii, 207 f.

Note 9 in page 547 Dippel's assertion, Nietzsche and Wagner (Bern, 1934), pp. 9–10, that Nietzsche as a result of his enthusiasm for Schopenhauer yielded himself wholly to Wagner's ideas during his student years in Leipzig, does not seem to be supported by the evidence. For a sounder account, cf. Kurt Hildebrandt, Wagner und Nietzsche (Breslau, 1924), p. 180 f.

Note 10 in page 547 Op. cit. iii, 319.

Note 11 in page 547 Op. cit., iii, 98.

Note 12 in page 548 Op. cit., iii, 351.

Note 13 in page 548 Richard Wagner, Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft. Gesammelle Schriften und Dichtungen. Vierte Auflage (Leipzig, 1907), iii, 65.

Note 14 in page 548 His deviation from this position in some passages of his essay on Beethoven (1870) is only apparent.

Note 15 in page 548 Schopenhauer, Sämmtliche Werke, Insel-Ausgabe, Well ah Wille und Vorslellung, i. Teil, 346.

Note 16 in page 549 Gesammelte Schriften, iii, 231, 255.

Note 17 in page 549 Op. cit., ii. Teil, Kapitel 39.

Note 18 in page 550 Gesammelte Schriften, iii, 277; iv, 173 f.

Note 19 in page 551 Evidence of this will be offered in a separate article.

Note 20 in page 552 Numbers 2, 3, and S may be found in extracts in Nietzsche's Werke, Alfred Kröner Verlag in Leipzig, 1917 f. ZweiteAbteilnng, Bd. ix. They have been edited in complete form by Max Oehler and published by Die Gesellschaft der Freunde des Nietzsche-Archivs (Leipzig, 1926, 1927, 1928, respectively).

Note 21 in page 552 Friedrich Nietzsches Gesammelte Briefe, 3. Auflage, Insel Verlag (Leipzig, 1902).

Note 22 in page 552 Ursprüngliche Fassung der Geburt der Tragödie. Herausgegeben von H. J. Mette. 7. Jahresgabe der Gesellschaft der Freunde des Nietzsche-Archivs, Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (München, 1933).

Note 23 in page 553 Gesammelte Briefe, ii. Band, October 7, 1869.

Note 24 in page 553 Cf. Wagner, Gesammelle Schriften, iii, 143.

Note 25 in page 553 Werke, ix, 36.

Note 26 in page 553 Cf. Das griechische Musikdrama. 1. Jahresgabe der Gesellschaft der Freunde des Nietzsche-Archivs, herausgegeben von Max Oehler (Leipzig, 1926), p. 22 f.

Note 27 in page 553 Op. cit., 24.

Note 28 in page 554 Op. cit., 25

Note 29 in page 554 Werke, ix, 40 f.

Note 30 in page 555 Schopenhauer, Sämmtliche Werke, Insel-Ausgabe, Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, i. Teil, 340.

Note 31 in page 555 Werke, ix, 75. Cf. also Walther Hauff, Die Überwindung des Schopenhauerschen Pessimismus durch Friedrich Nietzsche (Halle, 1904), p. 23.

Note 32 in page 555 Werke, lx, 76.

Note 33 in page 556 “In Socrates hat sich jene eine Seite des Hellenischen, jene apollinische Klar heil, ohne jede fremdartige Beimischung verkörpert: wie ein reiner, durchsichtiger Lichtstrahl erscheint er, als Vorbote und Herold der Wissenschaft, die ebenfalls in Griechenland geboren werden sollte.” Cf. Socrates und die Tragödie. 2. Jahresgabe der Gesellschaft der Freunde des Nietzsche-Archivs, herausgegeben von Max Oehler (Leipzig, 1927), p. 20.

Note 34 in page 556 Wagner's influence on Nietzsche is noticeable at this point in the praise of Shakespeare at the expense of the Greeks. Cf. Werke, ix, 57, 58, and Richard Wagner, Gesammelte Schriften, iii, 268.

Note 35 in page 556 Wagner also held that the course of Greek tragedy moved “unstreitbar aus dem Schosse der Lyrik zur Verstandesreflexion hin.” Cf. Gesammelte Schriften, iv, 144.

Note 36 in page 556 Werke, ix. 76 (spring of 1870).

Note 37 in page 556 Ibid., 74, where the intellect is declared to be unconditionally subordinate to the “Will.”

Note 38 in page 557 Op. cit., 77.

Note 39 in page 557 Op. cit., 79.

Note 40 in page 557 Nietzsche in the end of course brings these also under the category of “illusions” by which the “Will” disguises more subtly the universal urge for power.

Note 41 in page 557 Op. cit., 77.

Note 42 in page 558 Op. cit., 78–79.

Note 43 in page 558 Op. cit., 79.

Note 44 in page 558 Op. cit., 55.

Note 45 in page 558 Op. cit., 81.

Note 46 in page 558 Op cit., 82.

Note 47 in page 558 In his Briefe über die aesthetische Erziehung des Menschen.

Note 48 in page 559 Werke, iii, Abteilung, xvii, 298.

Note 49 in page 559 Op. cit., 295–296.

Note 50 in page 560 Op. cit., 320 f.

Note 51 in page 560 Ibid.

Note 52 in page 560 Werke, xvii, 297.

Note 53 in page 561 Op. cit., 301.

Note 54 in page 561 Op. cit., 302, and Note.

Note 55 in page 561 Nietzsche's warm defense of Schiller's experiment with a chorus in Die Braut von Messina, Werke, xvii, p. 310 f., can readily be understood in this connection. He agrees with the validity of Schiller's arguments, as summarized under four heads. The chorus represents the following advantages: (1) The restoration of a poetic (i.e., anti-realistic) world. (2) Liberation from the world of action and free scope for poetic reflection. (3) The lyrical language of the chorus forces the poet to elevate the whole level of the tragedy. (4) The predominance of passion is avoided and calm is brought into the tragedy. “Das Gemüt des Zuschauers soll in der heftigsten Aktion seine Freiheit bewahren. Wir sollen uns nicht mit dem Stoff vermengen.” The charge of poor psychological motivation usually brought against this tragedy of Schiller is irrelevant, since the chorus shifts the emphasis away from reflection to emotion. “Instinktiv wurde auch bei Schiller die Weltanschauung dieselbe wie die des Sophocles. Er hatte in dem Chor zum ersten Mal ein Mittel, die Verschmelzung mit dem Stoff, die Hingabe an orgiastische Erschütterung zu verhüten: jetzt konnte er nach dem furchtbarsten Hintergrunde, greifen, wie es kein dramatischer neuerer Dichter gewagt hat... Die Welt als ein Rätsel.”

Note 56 in page 562 Op. cit., 315 f.

Note 57 in page 562 Op. cit., 316 f.

Note 58 in page 563 Gesammelte Briefe, i, 175.

Note 59 in page 563 Now available in its complete form as edited by Dr. Max Oehler, dritte Jahresgabe der Gesellschaft der Freunde des Nietzsche-Archivs, 1933.

Note 60 in page 564 Inself-Ausgabe, Parerga und Paralipomena, i. Teil, 277.

Note 61 in page 564 Wagner also employs it in his Beethoven.

Note 62 in page 564 The idea that any kind of art, even the Dionysian lyric, admitted the pathological admixture of “Will,” or desire, is of course rejected a little later in Die Geburt der Tragödie. It is in fact the chief test by which Nietzsche classes Wagner with the “Romanic” (modern) type rather than with the Greek (tragic, naïve).

Note 63 in page 564 This conception of the “Will” as Weltenharmonie is important. It is far from Schopenhauer and really is identical with the “Idyllic” view of tragedy, which Nietzsche abandoned before the final version of Die Geburt dar Tragödie and which he by that time definitely attributed to Wagner.

Note 64 in page 564 The definition of the form of this coöperation is the central problem in both Nietzsche's Geburt der Tragödie and Wagner's Beethoven. Their results are widely divergent.

Note 65 in page 565 Werke, ix, 90.

Note 66 in page 566 Werke, ix, 88.

Note 67 in page 567 Werke, ix, 93.—Wagner denied the power of poetry to express feeling adequately. Nietzsche's strange fascination at this time is obvious in his acceptance of this idea, a position in reality totally foreign to his disposition. Earlier in the year (1870) he had put down in his notes a modification of this extreme view: “Die Dichtung ist häufig auf einem Wege zur Musik; indem sie die allerzartesten Begriffe aussucht, in deren Bereich das Grobmaterielle des Begriffs fast entschwindet.” Werke, ix, 70. This observation may be taken as a protest of the poet against the tyranny of the musician. Cf. also Kurt Hildebrandt, Wagner und Nietzsche, p. 384.

Note 68 in page 567 Werke, ix, 97.

Note 69 in page 568 Op. cit., 99.

Note 70 in page 568 Werke, ix, 92. Italics mine.

Note 71 in page 568 Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche: Wagner und Nietzsche zur Zeit ihrer Freundschaft, (München 1915), p. 70 f., and Werke, ix, 455.

Note 72 in page 568 Werke, ix, 456.

Note 73 in page 568 Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, op. cit., p. 72.

Note 74 in page 569 Op. cit., 72 f., and Nietzsches Briefe, iii, 120, Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe.

Note 75 in page 569 Socrates und die griechische Tragödie. Ursprüngliche Fassung, hsg. V. H. J. Mette (1933). Cf. esp. p. 109. The essential evidence in the essay bearing on the present discussion is also to be found in Werke, ix, 212–269.

Note 76 in page 569 Cf. also Werke, ix, 212–224.

Note 77 in page 569 Beginning: “Diese ganze Erörterung hält daran fest,” etc.

Note 78 in page 570 Inseif-Ausgabe, Parerga ii, Zur Metaphysik des Schönen und Aesthetik, § 220.

Note 79 in page 570 Werke, ix, 220.

Note 80 in page 570 Op. cit., 221. The words bewusstem Geiste clearly fit Wagner's attempt in his Beethoven to improve on Schopenhauer.

Note 81 in page 571 Cf. above, p. 553.

Note 82 in page 571 Werke, ix, 223.

Note 83 in page 572 Op. cit., 224.

Note 84 in page 572 Werke, ix, 238.

Note 85 in page 572 Op. cit., 236.

Note 86 in page 573 Op. cit., 238.

Note 87 in page 573 Op. cit., 239.

Note 88 in page 573 Op. cit., 240.

Note 89 in page 573 Op. cit., 241.

Note 90 in page 573 Op. cit., 256.

Note 91 in page 573 Op. cit., 241.

Note 92 in page 574 Op. cit., 241.

Note 93 in page 574 Op cit., 242, 248–249.

Note 94 in page 574 Op. cit., 248–249.

Note 95 in page 574 Op. cit., 242.

Note 96 in page 574 Op. cit., 249.

Note 97 in page 574 Ibid.

Note 98 in page 574 Op. cit., 250–251.

Note 99 in page 575 Op. cit., 231.

Note 100 in page 575 Op. cit., 254.

Note 101 in page 575 Op. cit., 253–254.

Note 102 in page 575 “Wagner ist vor allem als Muskier zu beachten: seine Texte sind ‘Musikdunst.‘” Op. cit., 254.

Note 103 in page 576 Op. cit., ix, 254–255.

Note 104 in page 576 Ibid.

Note 105 in page 577 Op. cit., ix, 257.

Note 106 in page 577 Op. cit., 258.

Note 107 in page 577 Gesammelte Schriften, ix, 81.

Note 108 in page 577 Nietzsche's attempts to compromise with his conscience in the published version of Die Geburt der Tragödie (1872) justify a study of the essay from that point of view—a study which the present writer has now completed.