Response 11/2/11

Initially, I found many similarities to Brahms and Nietzsche because they were both outsiders and both German-born, so I would think that Nietzsche would enjoy Brahms' music, but I was wrong. He found Wagner and Brahms too similar, though he was glad that Wagner finally had some competition, because Wagner was quite jealous of Brahms' success. He found that both Brahms and Wagner were quite arrogant and while Brahms had the Apollonian aspect because Brahms music was severely structured it lacked the joy that Dionysian music could bring and ultimately Nietzsche was looking for the balance that he felt needs to exist between the two forms of music. He believes that Brahms' music is not original, which is what I THINK he means by his music being deceptive. The German people believe they are listening to something new, but in reality Brahms in Nietzsche's opinion is borrowing ideas from past music instead of attempting to create his own.