CHAPTER 4Redemption
through Art
Nietzsche and Wagner: Collaboration on the myth ·
Romanticism and cultural revolution · The Ring ·
Nietzsche on Wagner · The return of Dionysus · Visions of
destruction and the^ upeak of rapture^19 · Disillusionment in
Bayreuthψ ψ A G Ν ER 'S MUSIC drama awakened the young Nietzsche's hope
of resurrecting German intellectual life, which, in his view, had been
severely damaged by materialism, economism, and historidsm, as well as
being politically harmed by the founding of the German empire in 1871.
In the first of the Untimely Observations, Nietzsche decried the "defeat
and even the extirpation of the German mind for the sake of the
'German Reich' " (1,160; DS § 1), by which he meant the triumph of
national chauvinism, profit orientation, and belief in progress. As we
have seen, he had nothing against the success of "military genius"
(1,775; TGS), but he wanted militarism to culminate in a heroic invigor-
ation of culture. The enrichment of culture should remain the loftiest
goal even in moments of military triumph. For Nietzsche, war signaled
that the Dionysian-Heraclitean world was penetrating into politics and
restoring the gravity of life, which would result in the fertilization of cul-
ture. When it became evident, however, that military victory served to
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