Wagner-Nietzsche, ten years of ‘passion’ and a fierce break

Of Santiago is the editor and translator of ‘Richard Wagner-Friedrich Nietzsche: Correspondence’, which has edited Fórcola, and in which through the letters that were directed between them and those that the philosopher directed to different correspondents-Cosima, the Wagner’s wife burned most of the letters that the philosopher sent him – tries to explain a fascinating and surprising relationship that barely It remained for a decade. It was a relationship that Nietzsche himself defined in a letter to Lou Salome of 1882 as “a very long passion.” “In this friendship – would write the philosopher’s sister – he projected all the splendor of the Supreme Transfiguration, she already dedicated her most beautiful dreams and hopes for the future, but also a lot of time and intellectual work.”

“Some have come to qualify the friendship relationship of these two geniuses – Luis Enrique de Santiago points out – not only as one of the most important moments of their lives, but as one of the most significant cultural events of the nineteenth century.”

Professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Malaga, in Santiago had already investigated in the matter with two previous books, edited by Trotta, with correspondence from Friedrich Nietzsche and Cosima Wagner. “I have tried to cover some gaps that the destruction of Nietzsche’s letters causes with the testimonies of the philosopher himself to his friends, and also through the point of view of his sister, that even if it is a subjective vision, he does discover some details» .

Despite the age difference between Wagner and Nietzsche (more than thirty years), a “difficult to understand” friendship was forged between them, according to Santiago. What led them to maintain that intimacy? “Nietzsche was fascinated, above all, Wagner’s consistent theories about the history of culture, in which he denounced the decline in which humanity was, and the fundamental role of art in the new vision of the human community” . “Wagner, on the other hand,” is delighted with what for him was a new ‘disciple’ or ‘adept’ “.

Close intimacy

During the ten years of relationship, Friedrich Nietzsche and Richard Wagner maintained close intimacy. He visited him several times at his home in Tribschen, near Lucena (Switzerland), where he even spent several Christmas. His exchange of ideas was constant and they were consulted and advised about their writings – Cosima also participated. “Tribschen,” says Santiago, “became Nietzsche’s intellectual workshop.”

But things began to twist “when Nietzsche begins to think differently to Wagner, and he didn’t know how to understand.” The story of the final disagreement began at the Bayreuth Festival of 1876 and ends on October 27 of that year at the Vittoria de Sorrento hotel, the stage of the last match between the two geniuses. It was an ‘intellectual’ break. “Nietzsche left Bayreuth disappointed and with the idea that the ‘Wagnerian ideal’ faded,” says Santiago. The publication of ‘Human, too human’ presents a totally different Nietzsche, “a free spirit,” and this Wagner – and either Cosima – does not admit it.

It was not, he concludes from Santiago, «a radical break; Nietzsche hurt that bankruptcy a lot and continued to profess a deep love and a deep admiration for Wagner and his music: he considered ‘parsifal’ a ‘milestone’ ». “Nothing can compensate for me,” wrote the philosopher – of having lost Wagner’s sympathy in recent years. “