NIETZSCHE AND WAGNER IN TRISTAN’S AURA

Abstract

The paper examines the overture and the third act of the music drama “Tristan and Isolde” by Richard Wagner, written about and frequently discussed by Friedrich Nietzsche in his works. The relationship between the two artists was dominant in the cultural life of Germany during the second half of the 19th century. It evolved, underwent changes and from Nietzsche’s love towards Wagner’s music and the Wagner cult it turned into the repulsive and was subject to severe criticism. The encounter of the two artists, not only on the ideological plane, but on a theoretical, professional and musical one as well, we explored throughout the work that Nietzsche accepted as an unprecedented work of art. By concentrating on particular sections of the drama, we examined the musical expression, plot and dramaturgy, along with the orchestra role being of a particular importance to Wagner. Nietzsche’s positions are interpreted and re-examined in the context of complex relations with Wagner and contemporary findings in musicology.