Nietzsche and Wagner: The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music

Presented by Dr. Sophia Howlett

Nietzsche's philosophical output is book-ended by his relationship with Wagner. It begins with The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music  and ends, of course, with Nietzsche Contra Wagner. In this lecture, I will focus on The Birth of Tragedy which was based on two lectures on Greek Tragedy that Wagner and Cosima had listened to and then encouraged Nietzsche to publish. I will explore Nietzsche's ideas on the Dionysian and the Apollonian as the core concepts of Greek tragedy, and then take us full circle to the beginning of our Ring Journey at TUNDI: exploring the connections/oppositions between the Greek and the German in mythology, notions of the tragic (vs the epic), all within these German operas performed in a 'Greek' theater. But here, I will also suggest that while there is much harmony between the two, in The Birth of Tragedy, we can explore the question of difference. And through recognition of difference, we will prepare the way for our Ring Cycle experience: a place where meaning and sensation are not circumscribed; a place where meaning and sensation can bloom.