Book Description

This lecture is one of his first musings on the Apollonian-Dionysian relationship in the creation of Art. Nietzsche's early essay displays a love of Wagner, Schopenhauer and Pre-Socratic philosophy, much like Heidegger. The original German title of this lecture is "Das griechische Musikdrama". This is one of three major Basel lectures he gave immediately after accepting a position at the University of Basel. At the young age of 24, Nietzsche accepted a professorship in philology in 1869, which facilitated his acquaintance with the composer, who lived in Tribschen. During this period, Nietzsche gave three lectures that foreshadowed his future focus: "The Greek Musical Drama" on January 18, "Socrates and Tragedy" on February 1, and "The Dionysian Worldview" in July/August 1870. Feeling constrained by philological topics, Nietzsche sought a professorship in philosophy. His writing reflects influences from two major sources: the philosophy of Schopenhauer and the musical and theoretical works of Wagner. Wagner's influence is particularly sharp here, as this lecture is essentially contrasting Wagner's ideas about the “Gesamtkunstwerk” ( or "total work of art") which integrates all artistic disciplines into a single, cohesive performance, against Schopenhauer's Pessimistic view of life. Art, the full synthesis of all types of art, becomes an antidote to this chaos. The Greek Musical Drama was given by the newly appointed Professor Nietzsche on January 18, 1870 in the Basel Museum and subsequently published by the foundation administered by his sister. This lecture was first published in the volume "Gesammelte Werke" edited by Peter Gast (a pseudonym for Heinrich Köselitz, a close associate of Nietzsche) and Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche (Nietzsche's sister). They were included in the second series of these collected works under the title "Philologica", published in 1897. This new 2024 translation from the original German, Latin and Greek manuscript contains a new Afterword by the translator, a timeline of Nietzsche's life and works, an index with descriptions of his core concepts and summaries of his complete body of works. This translation is designed to allow the armchair philosopher to engage deeply with Nietzsche's works without having to be a full-time Academic. The language is modern and clean, with simplified sentence structures and diction to make Nietzsche's complex language and arguments as accessible as possible. This Reader's Edition also contains extra material that amplifies the manuscript with autobiographical, historical and linguistic context. This provides the reader a holistic view of this very enigmatic philosopher as both an introduction and an exploration of Nietzsche's works; from his general understanding of his philosophic project to an exploration of the depths of his metaphysics and unique contributions. This edition contains: • An Afterword by the Translator on the history, impact and intellectual legacy of Nietzsche • Translation notes on the original German manuscript • An index of Philosophical concepts used by Nietzsche with a focus on Existentialism and Phenomenology • A complete chronological list of Nietzsche's entire body of works • A detailed timeline of Nietzsche's life journey