Why Did Nietzsche Break with Wagner?

A painful but necessary parting of the ways

尼采和瓦格納的友誼為何破碎？

痛苦的思想分歧與必然的分道揚(yáng)鑣

By Emrys Westacott

Of all the people who Friedrich Nietzsche met, the composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was, without question, the one who made the deepest impression on him. As many have pointed out, Wagner was the same age as Nietzsche father, and thus could have offered the young scholar, who was 23 when they first met in 1868, some sort of father substitute. But what really mattered to Nietzsche was that Wagner was a creative genius of the first rank, the kind of individual who, in Nietzsche’s view, justified the world and all its sufferings.

在弗里德里?！つ岵善缴R(shí)的人中，作曲家理查德·瓦格納（1813-1883）無疑是令他印象最深的一位。我們知道，瓦格納的年齡與尼采的父親相仿；并且，在兩人初識(shí)的1868年，尼采年僅23歲——瓦格納本可以或多或少填補(bǔ)尼采生活中父愛的空白。（譯者按，尼采的父親于1849年死于腦軟化癥，當(dāng)時(shí)尼采年僅5歲）然而，這對(duì)位年輕的學(xué)者而言，瓦格納之所以為他所尊重，主要在于他是一位一流的創(chuàng)作天才，一個(gè)可以為這個(gè)飽含苦難的世界尋找合理性的人。

From an early age Nietzsche was passionately fond of music, and by the time he was a student he was a highly competent pianist who impressed his peers by his ability to improvise. In the 1860s, Wagner’s star was rising. He began receiving the support of King Ludwig II of Bavaria in 1864; Tristan and Isolde(WWV 90) had been given its premiere in 1865, The Meistersingers(WWV 96) was premiered in 1868, Das Rheingold(WWV 86 A) in 1869, and Die Walküre(WWV 86B) in 1870. Although opportunities to see operas performed were limited, both because of location and finances, Nietzsche and his student friends had obtained a piano score of Tristan and were great admirers of what they considered the “music of the future.”

尼采自幼表現(xiàn)出對(duì)音樂的狂熱愛好，到了學(xué)生時(shí)代，更是憑借高超的鋼琴演奏技巧和出色的即興表演能力在同齡人中脫穎而出。而此時(shí)，正是瓦格納這顆音樂新星冉冉升起的1860年代。1864年，他獲得巴伐利亞國王路德維希二世的支持；1865年，《特里斯坦與伊索爾德》（Tristan und Isold WWV90）首演；《紐倫堡的名歌手》（Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg WWV96）、《萊茵的黃金》（Das Rheingold WWV86A）和《女武神》（Die Walküre WWV86B）分別在1868、1869、1870年首演。盡管由于交通不便、資金短缺，尼采難以時(shí)刻出現(xiàn)在歌劇演出的觀眾席中，他和他的學(xué)生朋友們卻得到了《特里斯坦與伊索爾德》的鋼琴譜。他們把這部樂劇奉為“未來之音”，成為了它的狂熱愛好者。

Nietzsche and Wagner became close after Nietzsche began visiting Wagner, his wife Cosima, and their children at Tribschen, a beautiful house beside Lake Lucerne, about a two-hour train ride from Basle where Nietzsche was a professor of classical philology.In their outlook on life and music they were both heavily influenced by Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer viewed life as essentially tragic, stressed the value of the arts in helping human beings cope with the miseries of existence, and accorded pride of place to music as the purest expression of the ceaselessly striving Will that underlay the world of appearances and constituted the inner essence of the world.

從尼采任古典文獻(xiàn)學(xué)教職的巴塞爾坐兩小時(shí)火車，就能到達(dá)特里布森。瓦格納、他的妻子科西馬以及他們的孩子就生活在這美麗的盧塞恩河畔。隨著尼采對(duì)瓦格納一家一次次的拜訪，他和瓦格納之間的友情日漸深厚。他們對(duì)生活和音樂的看法都深受叔本華的影響。叔本華眼中的世界在本質(zhì)上是悲劇性的，因此，他對(duì)于藝術(shù)的價(jià)值格外珍視：藝術(shù)能夠幫助人類應(yīng)對(duì)生存的苦難。其中，音樂是最高的藝術(shù)形式，是“意志”最純粹的表達(dá)。“意志”在永無止境的抗?fàn)幹袠?gòu)成了表象世界的內(nèi)在本質(zhì)。

Wagner had written extensively about music and culture in general, and Nietzsche shared his enthusiasm for trying to revitalize culture through new forms of art. In his first published work, The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche argued that Greek tragedy emerged “out of the spirit of music,” fueled by a dark, irrational “Dionysian” impulse which, when harnessed by “Apollonian” principles of order, eventually gave rise to the great tragedies of poets like Aeschylus and Sophocles.

瓦格納撰寫了大量關(guān)于音樂與文化的著作，而在用新藝術(shù)形式復(fù)興文化方面，尼采與瓦格納一樣興致勃勃。在尼采的第一部出版著作《悲劇的誕生》（1872）中，他這樣論證：古希臘悲劇由“音樂的精神”演化而來，在黑暗而非理性的狄俄尼索斯沖動(dòng)中，燃燒著悲劇的精髓。當(dāng)這種沖動(dòng)被日神阿波羅謹(jǐn)嚴(yán)的秩序規(guī)訓(xùn)，像埃斯庫羅斯和索夫科勒斯這般偉大的悲劇詩人便就此誕生。然而，在歐里庇得斯的戲劇中，理性主義傾向日漸顯明，蘇格拉底主義占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位，漸漸扼殺了古希臘悲劇的創(chuàng)造性沖動(dòng)。

 But then the rationalist tendency evident in the plays Euripides, and most of all in the philosophical approach of Socrates, came to dominate, thereby killing the creative impulse behind Greek tragedy. What is now needed, Nietzsche concludes, is a new Dionysian art to combat the dominance of Socratic rationalism. The closing sections of the book identify and praise Wagner as the best hope for this sort of salvation.

（譯者注：指狄俄尼索斯沖動(dòng)。狄俄尼索斯，古希臘酒神，奧林匹斯十二主神之一。常被用作“醉感中的狂喜”的隱喻，強(qiáng)調(diào)與日神阿波羅相對(duì)的“個(gè)體原則”）尼采認(rèn)為，如今正需要新的狄俄尼索斯藝術(shù)來與蘇格拉底理性主義主導(dǎo)力量抗?fàn)帯?strong>在《悲劇的誕生》的結(jié)尾部分，尼采呼應(yīng)了瓦格納的主張，稱贊他為文化復(fù)興最蓬勃的希望。

Needless to say, Richard and Cosima loved the book. At that time Wagner was working to complete his Ring cycle while also trying to raise money to build a new opera house at Bayreuth where his operas could be performed and where whole festivals devoted to his work could be held. While his enthusiasm for Nietzsche and his writings was no doubt sincere, he also saw him as someone who could be useful to him as an advocate for his causes among academics. Nietzsche had, most remarkably, been appointed to a professor’s chair at the age of 24, so having the backing of this apparently rising star would be a notable feather in Wagner’s cap.  Cosima, too, viewed Nietzsche, as she viewed everyone, primarily in terms of how they might help or harm her husband’s mission and reputation.

瓦格納和科西馬自然喜歡尼采的這部著作。那時(shí)，瓦格納一邊致力于完成他的《尼伯龍根的指環(huán)》系列，一邊嘗試為他在拜羅伊特的新歌劇院募集資金——他想要在那里舉辦個(gè)人作品音樂節(jié)。雖然瓦格納對(duì)于尼采及其著作的熱情是真誠的，他卻還把尼采視為在學(xué)界為自己的事業(yè)宣傳開拓的合作人。畢竟，尼采在24歲時(shí)就已經(jīng)獲得教授職位，如果能獲得這位學(xué)界新星的支持，對(duì)瓦格納而言無疑錦上添花。與此同時(shí)，對(duì)科西馬而言，尼采對(duì)她丈夫的事業(yè)和聲譽(yù)有怎樣的影響，她就怎樣看待尼采，這是她對(duì)所有人的評(píng)判標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

But Nietzsche, however much he revered Wagner and his music, and although he had quite possibly fallen in love with Cosima, had ambitions of his own. Although he was willing to run errands for the Wagners for a time, he became increasingly critical of Wagner’s overbearing egoism. Soon these doubts and criticisms spread to take in Wagner’s ideas, music, and purposes.

但是，無論尼采如何敬重瓦格納及其音樂，抑或是他可能已陷入了對(duì)科西馬的愛戀，他都有自己的志向。盡管他暫時(shí)還在為瓦格納東奔西走，瓦格納傲慢的利己主義卻令一股帶著批判的厭惡情緒在尼采心中油然而生。很快，這種懷疑和批評(píng)蔓延到了瓦格納的觀點(diǎn)、音樂和人生價(jià)值。

Wagner was an anti-Semite, nursed grievances against the French which fueled a hostility to French culture and was sympathetic to German nationalism. In 1873 Nietzsche became friends with Paul Rée, a philosopher of Jewish origin whose thinking was heavily influenced by Darwin, materialistic science, and French essayists like La Rochefoucauld.  Although Rée lacked Nietzsche’s originality, he clearly influenced him. From this time on, Nietzsche begins to view French philosophy, literature, and music more sympathetically.  Moreover, instead of continuing his critique of Socratic rationalism, he starts to praise the scientific outlook, a shift reinforced by his reading of Friedrich Lange’s History of Materialism.

瓦格納是個(gè)反猶份子，為社會(huì)上對(duì)法國的不滿情緒煽風(fēng)點(diǎn)火，助長(zhǎng)了人們對(duì)法國文化的敵意，對(duì)德意志民族主義唯唯諾諾。1873年，尼采結(jié)識(shí)了保羅·李。那是一個(gè)猶太血統(tǒng)的哲學(xué)家，思想深受達(dá)爾文唯物主義以及像弗朗索瓦·德·拉羅什富科（La Rochefoucauld）這樣的法國作家之影響。盡管保羅缺乏尼采的獨(dú)創(chuàng)性，他對(duì)尼采的影響卻是顯而易見的。從那時(shí)起，尼采對(duì)法國哲學(xué)、文學(xué)和音樂的感受日益深厚。他甚至一改之前對(duì)于蘇格拉底理性主義的批判，轉(zhuǎn)而認(rèn)同科學(xué)觀念。閱讀弗里德里?！ぐ栘愄亍だ矢瘢‵riedrich Albert Lange）的《唯物主義史》強(qiáng)化了尼采的上述觀念轉(zhuǎn)向。

In 1876 the first Bayreuth festival took place. Wagner was at the center of it, of course. Nietzsche originally intended to participate fully, but by the time the event was underway he found the cult of Wagner, the frenetic social scene swirling around the comings and goings of celebrities, and the shallowness of the surrounding festivities unpalatable.  Pleading ill health, he left the event for a time, returned to hear some performances, but left before the end.

1876年，第一屆拜羅伊特音樂節(jié)舉行，瓦格納理所當(dāng)然成為了焦點(diǎn)。尼采本打算全身心地投入這場(chǎng)音樂盛會(huì)，但在盛會(huì)準(zhǔn)備期間的所見所聞磨滅了他對(duì)這場(chǎng)盛會(huì)的幻想：瓦格納“頭頂光環(huán)”、狂熱的大眾在名人周圍熙熙攘攘、到處都是膚淺而令人厭惡的歡宴。以身體不適為由，尼采中途離開了一段時(shí)間，返回聽了一些表演之后，在結(jié)束前離開了音樂節(jié)。

That same year Nietzsche published the fourth of his “Untimely Meditations”, Richard Wagner at Bayreuth. Although it is, for the most part, enthusiastic, there is a noticeable ambivalence in the author’s attitude toward his subject.  The essay concludes, for instance, by saying that Wagner is “not the prophet of the future, as perhaps he would wish to appear to us, but the interpreter and clarifier of the past.”  Hardly a ringing endorsement of Wagner as the savior of German culture!

同年，尼采《不合時(shí)宜的考察》系列第四部作品《拜羅伊特的理查德·瓦格納》出版。盡管書中的大部分內(nèi)容保持了尼采對(duì)瓦格納的熱情，他對(duì)瓦格納的矛盾態(tài)度卻從字里行間顯露出來。例如，在文章的結(jié)論部分，尼采寫道：瓦格納不是未來的先知，盡管他可能想要向眾人展現(xiàn)出先知的面貌。事實(shí)上，他是過去的闡釋者和澄清器。由此可見，要讓尼采繼續(xù)把瓦格納當(dāng)作德國文化拯救者，恐怕已不太可能。

Later in 1876 Nietzsche and Rée found themselves staying in Sorrent at the same time as the Wagners. They spent quite a lot of time together, but there is some strain in the relationship. Wagner warned Nietzsche to be wary of Rée on account of his being Jewish. He also discussed his next opera, Parsifal, which to Nietzsche’s surprise and disgust was to advance Christian themes. Nietzsche suspected that Wagner was motivated in this by a desire for success and popularity rather than by authentic artistic reasons.

1876年后半年，尼采和保羅在索倫特逗留了一段時(shí)間，瓦格納一家恰好也在那里。他們共同度過了一段時(shí)光，但友情已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了一絲緊張。瓦格納提醒尼采對(duì)保羅的猶太身份保持警惕，并與尼采探討他的新歌劇《帕西法爾》。令尼采吃驚而厭惡的是，《帕西法爾》居然意在推動(dòng)宗教主題。瓦格納此舉的動(dòng)機(jī)令尼采不得不懷疑：在瓦格納心中，對(duì)成功和名聲的渴望遠(yuǎn)勝純粹的藝術(shù)追求。

Wagner and Nietzsche saw each other for the last time on November 5th, 1876. In the years that followed, they became both personally and philosophically estranged, although his sister Elisabeth remained on friendly terms with the Wagners and their circle. Nietzsche pointedly dedicated his next work, Human, All Too Human, to Voltaire, an icon of French rationalism. He published two more works on Wagner, The Case of Wagner and Nietzsche Contra Wagner, the latter being mainly a collection of previous writings. 

1876年11月5日，瓦格納和尼采最后一次見面。在之后的日子里，他們?cè)趥€(gè)性和哲學(xué)觀念上漸行漸遠(yuǎn)，盡管尼采的妹妹伊麗莎白依舊和瓦格納一家及其社交圈保持友好的聯(lián)系。尼采把他的下一部作品《人性，太過人性》指名道姓地獻(xiàn)給法國理性主義領(lǐng)袖伏爾泰。至于瓦格納，他后來發(fā)表了兩部作品：《瓦格納事件》和《尼采反對(duì)瓦格納》，后者主要是先前一些作品的集子。

He also created a satirical portrait of Wagner in the person of an old sorcererwho appears in Part IV of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.  He never ceased to recognize the originality and greatness of Wagner’s music. But at the same time, he distrusted it for its intoxicating quality, and for its Romantic celebration of death. Ultimately, he came to see Wagner’s music as decadent and nihilistic, functioning as a kind of artistic drug that deadens the pain of existence instead of affirming life with all its sufferings.

另外，尼采在《查拉圖斯特拉如是說》第四部分中創(chuàng)造了一個(gè)老魔術(shù)師的形象，借此對(duì)瓦格納進(jìn)行諷刺。尼采從不否認(rèn)瓦格納音樂的獨(dú)創(chuàng)性和偉大，但它蠱惑人心的效果和對(duì)死亡的浪漫化解讀，卻讓尼采不敢茍同。最終，尼采把瓦格納的音樂形容為 “頹廢”、“虛無”，因?yàn)樗拖袷琴N著“藝術(shù)”標(biāo)簽的毒藥——毒藥使生存的痛苦愈演愈烈，而真正好的藝術(shù)應(yīng)該在生命的一切痛苦背后，探索價(jià)值。