THE CASE OF WAGNER
BY
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
I
THE CASE OF WAGNER
II
NIETZSCHE CONTRA WAGNER
III
SELECTED APHORISMS
TRANSLATED BY ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI
IV
WE PHILOLOGISTS
TRANSLATED BY J. M. KENNEDY
The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche
The First Complete and Authorised English Translation
Edited by Dr Oscar Levy
Volume Eight
T.N. FOULIS
13 & 15 FREDERICK STREET
EDINBURGH: AND LONDON
1911
CONTENTS
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
THE CASE OF WAGNER
NIETZSCHE CONTRA WAGNER
SELECTED APHORISMS
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION TO "WE PHILOLOGISTS"
WE PHILOLOGISTS
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 theend of June of the same year, and it was published in the followingautumn. "Nietzsche contra Wagner" was written about the middle ofDecember 1888; but, although it was printed and corrected beforethe New Year, it was not published until long afterwards owing toNietzsche's complete breakdown in the first days of 1889.
In reading these two essays we are apt to be deceived, by theirvirulent and forcible tone, into believing that the whole matter isa mere cover for hidden fire,—a mere blind of æsthetic discussionconcealing a deep and implacable personal feud which demands and willhave 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 rumoursare more easily believed than verified, the error of supposing thatthese pamphlets were dictated by personal animosity, and even byNietzsche's envy of Wagner in his glory, seems to be a pretty commonone. Another very general error is to suppose that the point at issuehere is not one concerning music at all, but concerning religion. Itis taken for granted that[Pg x] the aspirations, the particular quality,the influence, and the method of an art like music, are matters quitedistinct from the values and the conditions prevailing in the culturewith which it is in harmony, and that however many Christian elementsmay be discovered in Wagnerian texts, Nietzsche had no right to raiseæsthetic objections because he happened to entertain the extraordinaryview that these Christian elements had also found their way intoWagnerian music.
To both of these views there is but one reply:—they are absolutelyfalse.
In the "Ecce Homo," Nietzsche's autobiography,—a book which fromcover to cover and line for line is sincerity itself—we learn whatWagner