Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Untimely Meditationsremote regions: that is why he can be called a simplifier of the world,for simplification of the world consists in being able to view and thusmaster the tremendous abundance of an apparently chaotic wildernessand to bring together in unity that which was formerly thoughtto be set irreconcilably asunder. Wagner did this by discovering arelationship between two things which appeared to be completelyalien to one another as though they dwelt in different spheres: betweenmusic and life, and likewise between music and drama. He did notinvent or create these relationships: they are there, lying ineverybody's path, just as every great problem is like the preciousstone which thousands walk over before one finally picks it up. Whatdoes it signify, Wagner asked himself, that precisely such an art asmusic should have arisen with such incomparable force in the life ofmodern man? It is not at all necessary to have a low opinion of thislife in order to perceive a problem here; no, when one considers allthe great forces pertaining to this life and pictures to oneself an existencestriving mightily upwards and struggling for conscious freedomand independence of tlwught - only then does music appear truly anenigma in this world. Must one not say that music could not arise outof this age! But what then is the meaning of its existence? Is it achance event? A single great artist might be a chance event, certainly;but the appearance of a series of great artists such as the history ofmodern music discloses - a series equalled only once before, in theage of the Greeks - makes one think it is not chance but necessity thatrules here. This necessity is precisely the problem to which Wagnerfurnishes an answer.First of all he recognized a state of distress extending as far ascivilization now unites nations: everywhere language is sick, and theoppression of this tremendous sickness weighs on the whole ofhuman development. Inasmuch as language has had continually toclimb up to the highest rung of achievement possible to it so as toencompass the realm of thought - a realm diametrically opposed tothat for the expression of which it was originally supremely adapted,namely the realm of strong feelingsit has during the brief period ofcontemporary civilization become exhausted through this excessiveeffort: so that now it is no longer capable of performing that functionfor the sake of which alone it exists: to enable suffering mankind tocorne to an understanding with one another over the simplest needsoflife. Man can no longer express his needs and distress by means oflanguage, thus he can no longer really communicate at all: andunder these dimly perceived conditions language has everywhere214