Music as the Food of Love

The young Nietzsche believed Richard Wagner to be the world's new saviour through his music dramas. In this belief he had been profoundly influenced by the pessimism of Arthur Schopenhauer. In Schopenhauer's philosophy, music was given the highest position amongst the arts (which were themselves seen as superior to the sciences, as the artist created something out of his own mind, rather than merely discovering what was already there) because it did not rely on the medium of representation to express what was universal.

Many of Schopenhauer's views about music and art no doubt appear quaint and wrong headed to us today. However, his idea that music may be the quintessential art due to its (relative) lack of reliance on representation may be true (though of course, it is actually relayed and interpreted to us through the composer's score, the conductor's interpretation and the musicians' instruments). Certainly the following Prelude to Monteverdi's opera, "Orfeo", might strongly influence us to go along with Schopenhauer's idea. The sonic effects are truly marvelous and profoundly uplifting. It used to be said that Perri's opera, "Dafne", written in 1597 was the oldest surviving opera--but given that it actually appears to be lost, Monteverdi's "Orfeo" is most likely the oldest opera extant.