8/9/2019 Hans von Bülow

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Hans von Bülow’s Opinion of Nietzsche’s Music

 Naturally, Hans von Bülow did not remain unknown to Nietzsche, owing to his frequenting

Wagner’s house – and thus he sent him his "Geburt der Tragödie" (in 1872). After a visit to

Basel – Wagner was already preparing for his departure to Bayreuth – they saw each other

again in Munich, where Hans von Bülow, on the orders of King Ludwig II and against

Wagner’s wishes, conducted Tristan und Isolde.

Thanking him for "den erhabensten Kunsteindruck meines Lebens" (the most sublime

impression of art in my life), Nietzsche took this opportunity to present to Hans von Bülow his

Manfred Meditation for an evaluation. In a written address that was full of self-irony, he called

his music "zweifelhaft" (doubtful), even "entsetzlich" (awful). However, this self-qualification

did not prevent von Bülow from rendering an honest opinion. According to von Bülow, he was

faced with "das Extremste von phantastischer Extravaganz" (the most extreme in phantastic

extravagance), the "Unerquicklichste und Antimusikalischste" (the most unsatisfying and most

anti-musical) in a long time. If the entire thing was a joke, he asked, a musical parody of the

"music of the future"? Did he, Nietzsche, want to deliberately mock all rules of tonal harmony,

of the higher syntax as well as of ordinary orthography? His musical fever product was, in

musical terms, the equivalent to a crime in the moral world, with which the musical muse,

Euterpe, was raped. If he would allow him to give him some good advice, just in case that he

was actually serious with his "Abberation ins Componiergebiet" (abberation into the area of

composition), then he should (stick to) composing vocal music, since, in it, the word can lead

the way "auf dem wilden Tonmeere" (on the wild sea of tones). In this manner, his music was

even more "entsetzlich" (awful) as he, himself, might mean it : namely, harmful to himself in

the highest degree. Nevertheless, in this "musical fever product", with all its abberations, one

could detect a distinguished mind, and, in a certain sense he, with his staging of the "Tristan",

was indirectly guilty of "einen so hohen und erleuchteten Geist wie den Ihrigen, verehrter Herr

Professor, in so bedauerliche Klavierkrämpfe gestürzt zu haben" (having thrown such an

enlightened mind as yours, esteemed Herr Professor, into such regrettable piano cramps).

In any event, Nietzsche was open enough to communicate the content of this letter to his

friends, and thus, he wrote, for example, to Erwin Rohde : "Der Brief Bülows ist für mich

unschätzbar in seiner Ehrlichkeit, lies ihn, lache mich aus, glaube mir, daß ich vor mir selbst in

einen solchen Schrecken geraten bin, um seitdem kein Klavier anrühren zu können" (Bülow’s

letter is invaluable to me in its honesty, read it, laugh about me and believe me that I have become so scared of myself that I cannot touch a piano ever since).

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