response to 10/31

From Nietzsche’s comments regarding Bizet, Nietzsche’s general definition of what he considers good music appears to be music that is the polar opposite of Wagner’s music. He says about Bizet’s Carmen “it approaches lightly, supplely, politely. It is pleasant, it does not sweat. ‘What is good is light; whatever is divine moves on tender feet’ [. . .]. It builds, organizes, finishes” (157). This explanation of Carmen is totally opposite of how he explained Wagner’s music – music that sweats, chaotic, overdramatic, and theatrical with no apparent structure.

In Levitin’s book, This is Your Brain on Music, Levitin confirms my theory when he writes “connections to the artist or what the artist stands for can thus be part of our musical preferences” (244-245). Levitin also states he can not listen to Wagner’s music because of the person Wagner is thought to be. “Due to his pernicious anti-Semitism, the sheer vulgarity of his mind [. . .] and his music’s association of the Nazi regime, some people don’t feel safe listening to his music. Wagner has always disturbed me profoundly, and not just his music, but also the idea of listening to it” (243). So my personal belief that Nietzsche’s negative opinion of Wagner is also projected to his negative feelings of Wagner’s music has been confirmed by Levitin’s writings.