The Case of Wagner

Wagner had been Nietzsche's idol; The Case of Wagner (1888) is the public reckoning. With ferocious wit, Nietzsche dissects Wagner's music-drama as the symptom of a sick European culture — theatrical, hysterical, decadent, false. The volume gathers The Case of Wagner with its companion piece Nietzsche Contra Wagner, written shortly afterward, and a set of selected aphorisms drawn from across his work. For all the polemic, this is one of the great books on music ever written by a non-musician, and Nietzsche's clearest account of why he came to reject the artistic religion of his youth. Translated by Anthony M. Ludovici and J. M. Kennedy.