Nietzsche's Split with Wagner Over His Embrace of Decadence

"The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence."
--Aldous Huxley

"Men first feel necessity, then look for utility, next attend to comfort, still later amuse themselves with pleasure, thence grow dissolute in luxury, and finally go mad and waste their substance."
--Giambattista Vico

decadence: moral or cultural decline as characterized by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury. --Oxford Languages dictionary

 

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Preface to Friedrich Nietzsche's The Case of Wagner: "Nothing has preoccupied me more profoundly than the problem of decadence. Good and evil is merely a variation of that problem. Once one has developed a keen eye for the symptoms of decline, one understands morality, too-- one understands what is hiding under his most sacred names in value formulas: impoverished life, the will to the end, the great weariness."

Nietzsche describes his “profound estrangement“ with Wagner as a “sobering up.“ 

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Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Is the Super Bowl the epitome of American Decadence? Of Bread and Circuses? 10 of the top 11 shows in television history have been Super Bowls.

Perhaps such circuses can be considered good and useful as they temporarily take a poor man's mind off his poverty? 

Earlier in Nietzsche's life he praised Wagner effusively. At the time, Wagner was a suffering artist, ever struggling to keep creditors at bay while producing sensational art. All that changed when he became the water boy for "Mad" King Ludwig II of Bavaria, a.k.a. The Swan King. Wagner was "in" the moneyed classes now. He had achieved. And he forgot his roots. (Nietzsche was also disgusted by Wagner's unconcealed anti-Semitism.) 

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Perhaps our love of football is a love of artifice. What could be more spectacular and more meaningless than a Super Bowl Halftime Show? The most memorable events can cost $10 million to produce. Here today, gone tomorrow. 

Long before feet touch the artificial turf, the primary actors have become grand in stature due to the celebrity machinery that turns mortals into gods. 

I'm curious what archeologists 1000 years from now will be thinking when they study our stadiums. The conversation will go like this. First: "What do you think these people did here?" Second: "We believe they gathered here to worship." 

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Will I be watching the game? Yes. I will be finishing my taxes and possibly taking notes on the commercials. $5.2 million per 30-second spot. 

Will Tom Brady acquire his 7th ring? 

Place your bets.