Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik

Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik, Die, original title of a treatise on tragedy by Nietzsche, published in 1872, and retitled Die Geburt der Tragödie: oder Griechentum und Pessimismus in 1886. It is Nietzsche's first major work, and was written in Basel between 1869 and 1871. In it he assails the view, current since the middle of the 18th c., that Greek civilization was predominantly serene. While accepting serenity as one aspect, which he calls Apolline, he emphasizes the dark mysterious forces which he associates with Dionysus, the representative of intoxication. The Apolline manifests itself primarily in sculpture; the Dionysiac expresses itself in music, and is the force inspiring Greek tragedy. Nietzsche sees a decline in tragedy, first brought about by Euripides, and subsequently by the Socratic rational principle which affected Greek as well as later civilizations. A rebirth of tragedy in irrational terms is, he believes, taking place in the work of Richard Wagner. Die Geburt der Tragödie owes something of its plan and purpose to Nietzsche's friendship with Wagner, which was shattered by personal and artistic disillusionment in 1876. The book proved from the outset highly controversial.