Friedrich Nietzsche's Writings Themes

Friedrich Nietzsche's Writings Themes

Music - “The Case of Wagner”

Nietzsche writes, "Wagner was not instinctively a musician. And this he proved by the way in which he abandoned all laws and rules, or, in more precise terms, all style in music, in order to make what he wanted with it, i.e., a rhetorical medium for the stage, a medium of expression, a means of accentuating an attitude, a vehicle of suggestion and of the psychologically picturesque. In this department Wagner may well stand as an inventor and an innovator of the first order—he increased the powers of speech of music to an incalculable degree." Wagner's approach to music is absolutely experimental and innovative. His ability to abandon conventional music rules enables him to compose music that is unique and differentiated from others. Accordingly, his innovations contribute immensely to the evolution of music; furthermore, his approach and rhetoric amplifies the potency of music for it explores the psychological realm.

Faculty - “Beyond Good and Evil”

Nietzsche expounds, "How are synthetic judgments a priori POSSIBLE?" Kant asks himself—and what is really his answer? "BY MEANS OF A MEANS (faculty)"—but unfortunately not in five words, but so circumstantially, imposingly, and with such display of German profundity and verbal flourishes, that one altogether loses sight of the comical niaiserie allemande involved in such an answer. People were beside themselves with delight over this new faculty, and the jubilation reached its climax when Kant further discovered a moral faculty in man. " Kant infers that humans have innate abilities which guide their decision making. Kantian ideologies concerning the implication of faculty influenced Germany's philosophy. Human faculties are mystical; hence, their discovery contributes to man's understanding of himself. Moreover, faculties aid people in identifying the cause-effect links between various issues.

Tragedy - “The Birth of Tragedy”

Nietzsche elucidates, “Tragedy absorbs the highest musical orgasm into itself, so that it absolutely brings music to perfection among the Greeks, as among ourselves; but it then places alongside thereof tragic myth and the tragic hero, who, like a mighty Titan, takes the entire Dionysian world on his shoulders and disburdens us thereof; while, on the other hand, it is able by means of this same tragic myth, in the person of the tragic hero, to deliver us from the intense longing for this existence.” Music and tragedy are intertwined. The incorporation of relevant music in compositions relating to tragedy amplifies the catastrophe, since music alludes to the hero’s impending tragic ending. The music should be transcendental to elicit illusions of disaster in the audience. Additionally, music reminds audiences about misfortunes that are inherent in life. Heroes in tragic compositions are not immune to such disasters.

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