Response: 10/26/11

Nietzche praised Wagner in his earlier works for his ability to depict every mood with the most "profoundest depth of human happiness, and, as it were, out of its drained goblet, where the bitterest and most repulsive drops...evilly run together with the sweetest" (663, Portable Nietzsche).

But where he begins to stray from his admiration is through his own analysis of the body and will. He began to believe that it willed for orderly "perfection". He claimed that Wagner's music only sickens the body, "heart", and "entrails". He then essentially continues to critique Wagner's music as brilliant, but too consistently elaborate. He charges him with requiring every composition to "shake the listener to his very intestines" to be considered "effective" (667, PN).

Finally, Nietzsche writes of when he "said farewell to Wagner in [his] heart." (675) He says it was when Wagner departed not only to Germany, but into anti-Semitism. Nietzsche then over-dramatically tells of Wagner's "sinking" into Christianity. He says this was "indeed high time to say farewell" (676).

The end of the chapter about the Greeks and the use of the word "Baubo" was a bit unclear. He seems to have a good laugh about it, and i'm sure if I understood the context of the Greek references it would be more entertaining. He seems to appreciate the Greek lifestyle and their arts, especially in contrast to the intellectually exhausting arts created by Wagner.