Nietzsche contra Wagner: "Smooth Seas" vs. "Revenge against Life Itself"

“Every art, every philosophy, may be considered a remedy and aid in the service of either growing or declining life: it always presupposes suffering and sufferers. But there are two kinds of sufferers: first, those who suffer from the overfullness of life and want a Dionysian art as well as a tragic insight and outlook on life—and then those who suffer from the impoverishment of life and demand of art and philosophy, calm, stillness, smooth seas, or, on the other hand, frenzy, convulsion, and anesthesia. Revenge against life itself—the most voluptuous kind of frenzy for those so impoverished! Wagner responds to this dual need of the latter no less than Schopenhauer: they negate life, they slander it, hence they are my antipodes.” (Nietzsche Contra Wagner 669-670)

I chose this first song, “Beat Organ” by 16 Bit Lolitas, because it reminds me of the “smooth seas” (in contrast with the “frenzy”) that Nietzsche says the sufferer who lives an impoverished life seeks through philosophy and art. This quote explicates why Nietzsche no longer agrees with what he puts forth in The Birth of Tragedy regarding Wagner and Schopenhauer. While Wagner and Schopenhauer negate life through music, Nietzsche argues that the underlying reality of existence includes contradiction, pain and excess and is represented immediately as the experience of the curse of individuation. Nietzsche seems especially critical of the negation of life because it implies that this life is not worth living and many people began to use Wagner’s music as a justification for religious faith and the prospects of an afterlife, alluding to something beyond human existence. While the Dionysian to Nietzsche allows us to transcend our individuation and access the primordial unity, the Dionysian, or music, doesn’t create a useless, or negated, life. According to Nietzsche, Wagner’s music acts as a “stimulant” to the listener in a negative sense, always causing the listener to need or want more from the music through all of its dramatic crescendos and decrescendos; however, the song I chose has less of a hypnotic effect than Wagner’s “Tristan & Isolde” because of its consistent rhythm and soothing sound effects that keep the listener engaged psychologically. Nietzsche seems to state that different types of sufferers/humans could need art and philosophy in different ways, the former longing for a Dionysian experience while the latter either demanding utter stillness or complete frenzy.  As a contrast to “Beat Organ,” here’s a song I personally associate with frenzy, or “revenge against life itself,” called “Doomsday” by NERO.

If you'd like to listen to the entire album from where the calmer song comes, it's great study music, possibly because of its rhythmic steadiness and pleasant instrumentals / vocals: