Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Richard Wagner in Bayreuthcocious . yet animated existence to which the gaudy world of thetheatre stood in a ludicrous, and the soul-compelling sound ofmusic in an incomprehensible, contrast. Now, it is in generalremarkable that, when a modern man is gifted with a great talent, heseldom possesses in his youth and childhood the quality of naivety,of simply being himself; and that when, in such rare cases as Goetheand Wagner, he does attain to naivety, he does so in adulthood. Theartist especially, in whom the power of imitation is particularlystrong, must fall prey to the feeble manysidedness of modern life asto a serious childhood illness; in his youth and childhood · he willlook more like an adult than his real self. The marvellously accuratearchetypal youth who is the Siegfried of the Ring des Nibelungen *could have been produced only by a man, and by a man moreoverwho had found his own youth late in life. And as Wagner's youthcame late, so did his full maturity; so that in this respect at least he isthe opposite of an anticipatory nature.As soon as his spiritual and moral maturity arrives, the drama ofhis life also begins. And how different he looks now! His natureappears in a fearful way simplified, torn apart into two drives orspheres. Below there rages the precipitate current of a vehement willwhich as it were strives to reach up to the light through every runway,cave and crevice, and desires power. Only a force wholly pure andfree could direct this will on to the pathway to the good andbenevolent; had it been united with a narrow spirit, such anunbridled tyrannical will could have become a fatality; and a way outinto the open, into air and sunlight, was in any event bound to befound soon. A mighty striving conscious of repeated failure makesone bad; inadequacy can sometimes be inherent in circumstances,* The Nibelung'S Ring, the tetralogy for the performance of which Wagner designedand erected the Festival Theatre at Bayreuth, in Bavaria, and the first performance ofwhich inaugurated the Bayreuth Festival. Wagner designated the Ring a 'Stage FestivalDrama for Three Days and a Fore-Evening'. The 'Fore-Evening' is Das Rheingold (TheRhine-Gold), a music-drama in a single act (four scenes); the first 'day' is Die Walkilre(The Valkyrie), a music-drama in three acts; the second 'day' is Siegfried, also in threeacts; and the third 'day' is GOtterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods), in three acts and aprologue. The whole work takes between 15 and 16 hours to perform, depending onthe tempo of performance, and is the longest musical composition in existence (TheRhine-Gold, which runs for about two-and-a-half hours, is the longest uninterruptedmusical movement). The present essay was published in July 1876 to coincide withthe inauguration of the festival, which took place on 13, 14, 16 and 17 August with thefirst public performance of the Ring.20 1