}

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Neue Musik

“Music, your advocate”

Nietzsche and the Liberating Power of Melody

“Music, your advocate”

Nietzsche and the Liberating Power of Melody

16.3.25
Paul Stephan

After Christian Saehrendt took a primarily biographical look at Nietzsche's relationship to music on this blog in June last year (link), Paul Stephan focuses in this article on Nietzsche's content statements about music and comes to a somewhat different conclusion: For Nietzsche, music has a liberating power through its subjectivating power. It affirms our sense of self and inspires us to resist repressive norms and morals. However, not all music can do that. With late Nietzsche, this is no longer Richard Wagner's opera, but Georges Bizet's opera carmen. Our author recognizes a similar attitude in Sartre's novel The disgust and in black popular music, which is not about comfort or grief, but affirmation and overcoming.

After Christian Saehrendt took a primarily biographical look at Nietzsche's relationship to music on this blog in June last year (link), Paul Stephan focuses in this article on Nietzsche's content statements about music and comes to a somewhat different conclusion: For Nietzsche, music has a liberating power through its subjectizing power. It affirms our sense of self and inspires us to resist repressive norms and morals. However, not all music can do that. In late Nietzsche, this is no longer Richard Wagner's opera, but Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. Our author recognizes a similar attitude in Sartre's novel Disgust and in black popular music, which is not about comfort or grief, but affirmation and overcoming.