




                          *Friedrich Nietzsche*

                         *I: The Case Of Wagner*

                    *II: Nietzsche *_Contra_* Wagner*

                        *III: Selected Aphorisms*

                              Translated By

                           Anthony M. Ludovici

                              Third Edition

                               T. N. Foulis

                         13 & 15 Frederick Street

                           Edinburgh and London

                                   1911





CONTENTS


Translator's Preface.
Preface To The Third Edition
The Case Of Wagner: A Musician's Problem
Nietzsche _contra_ Wagner
Selected Aphorisms from Nietzsche's Retrospect of his Years of Friendship
with Wagner.
Footnotes






TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.


Nietzsche wrote the rough draft of "The Case of Wagner" in Turin, during
the month of May 1888; he completed it in Sils Maria towards the end of
June of the same year, and it was published in the following autumn.
"Nietzsche _contra_ Wagner" was written about the middle of December 1888;
but, although it was printed and corrected before the New Year, it was not
published until long afterwards owing to Nietzsche's complete breakdown in
the first days of 1889.

In reading these two essays we are apt to be deceived, by their virulent
and forcible tone, into believing that the whole matter is a mere cover
for hidden fire,--a mere blind of aesthetic discussion concealing a deep and
implacable personal feud which demands and will have vengeance. In spite
of all that has been said to the contrary, many people still hold this
view of the two little works before us; and, as the actual facts are not
accessible to every one, and rumours are more easily believed than
verified, the error of supposing that these pamphlets were dictated by
personal animosity, and even by Nietzsche's envy of Wagner in his glory,
seems to be a pretty common one. Another very general error is to suppose
that the point at issue here is not one concerning music at all, but
concerning religion. It is taken for granted that the aspirations, the
particular quality, the influence, and the method of an art like music,
are matters quite distinct from the values and the conditions prevailing
in the culture with which it is in harmony, and that however many
Christian elements may be discovered in Wagnerian texts, Nietzsche had no
right to raise aesthetic objections because he happened to entertain the
extraordinary view that these Christian elements had also found their way
into Wagnerian music.

To both of these views there is but one reply:--they are absolutely false.

In the "Ecce <DW25>," Nietzsche's autobiography,--a book which from cover to
cover and line for line is sincerity itself--we learn what Wagner actually
meant to Nietzsche. On pages 41, 44, 84, 122, 129, &c, we cannot doubt
that Nietzsche is speaking from his heart,--and what does he say?--In
impassioned tones he admits his profound indebtedness to the great
musician, his love for him, his gratitude to him,--how Wagner was the only
German who had ever been anything to him--how his friendship with Wagner
constituted the happiest and most valuable experience of his life,--how his
breach with Wagner almost killed him. And, when we remember, too, that
Wagner on his part also declared that he was "alone" after he had lost
"that man" (Nietzsche), we begin to perceive that personal bitterness and
animosity are out of the question here. We feel we are on a higher plane,
and that we must not judge these two men as if they were a couple of
little business people who had had a suburban squabble.

Nietzsche declares ("Ecce <DW25>," p. 24) that he never attacked persons as
persons. If he used a name at all, it was merely as a means to an end,
just as one might use a magnifying glass in order to make a general, but
elusive and intricate fact more clear and more apparent, and if he used
the name of David Strauss, without bitterness or spite (for he did not
even know the man), when he wished to personify Culture-Philistinism, so,
in the same spirit, did he use the name of Wagner, when he wished to
personify the general decadence of modern ideas, values, aspirations and
Art.

Nietzsche's ambition, throughout his life, was to regenerate European
culture. In the first period of his relationship with Wagner, he thought
that he had found the man who was prepared to lead in this direction. For
a long while he regarded his master as the Saviour of Germany, as the
innovator and renovator who was going to arrest the decadent current of
his time and lead men to a greatness which