Chopin as “Wegweiser für die Zukunft”: Nietzsche on the Possibilities of Music in the Second Part of Human, All Too Human

Lebeau-Henry, Charles
(2018) Society of European Philosophy and Forum for European Philosophy 2018 joint Conference — Location: University of Essex (18.June.2018)

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It has been recognized for some time that, despite their being joined under a single title with a purported unified intent, the three texts that together compose Human, All Too Human see Nietzsche offering varying perspectives on art (Young, 1992). More recently, a similar divide between the first and the second part has been noted in regards to the wider tendencies that inform this work (Ansell-Pearson, 2018). In the first volume (1878), Nietzsche denounces the arts of his times for peddling metaphysics and religion, impeding us on the path to the new way of life made possible by science. However, in Assorted Opinions and Maxims (1879) and The Wanderer and his Shadow (1880), he suggests they should show humanity the path to its future by providing models that it could emulate. In this presentation, I wish to concentrate on the treatment of music in the second part of Human, All Too Human. Specifically, I will try to examine if, despite only admitting poetry as an art that signposts the future, Nietzsche could coherently allow music to succeed in this function. To do so, I will first present Nietzsche’s description of how music works, which I will argue is consistent across the whole book. I will then focus on the figure of Chopin, who appears to Nietzsche an exception amongst the musicians of his times, a “classic” in a sea of romantics. I will attempt to show, through the analysis of the passages devoted to him as well as through a closer look at the Barcarolle op. 60, which Nietzsche lauds in particular, that his artistic practice can fulfill Nietzsche’s desiderata.
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Lebeau-Henry, C. (2018). Chopin as “Wegweiser für die Zukunft”: Nietzsche on the Possibilities of Music in the Second Part of Human, All Too Human. Society of European Philosophy and Forum for European Philosophy 2018 joint Conference, University of Essex. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/98930