The Birth of Tragedy

The philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of Nietzsche’s main influences in The Birth of Tragedy. Schopenhauer posited a novel way of understanding metaphysics, or the nature of being. In contrast with previous philosophical schemes in which God, reason, the soul, or the heart were considered as the basis for reality, Schopenhauer argued that this role was filled by an impersonal will (sometimes capitalized as “Will”), identified as a powerful and undirected desire or energy.

In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche follows Schopenhauer’s ideas by speaking of music as an outpouring of “lust for life” and an expression of the “world will.” For Nietzsche, music expresses an irrational, unconscious force and desire that lie behind nature and human action. This force of the will is related to the concept of the Dionysiac, or the dark and irrational tendencies in humankind, and as such it forms the core of tragedy with its narrative about the fateful destruction of a tragic hero. For Nietzsche, it is this impersonal will, and not reason, that rules the universe. Music—even more so than a merely verbal tragedy—embodies this will and helps listeners connect to it.