Before we plunge12 into the midst of these struggles, let us array ourselves in the armour13 of our hitherto acquired knowledge. In contrast to all those who are intent on deriving14 the arts from one exclusive principle, as the necessary vital source of every work of art, I keep my eyes fixed15 on the two artistic16 deities17 of the Greeks, Apollo and Dionysus, and recognise in them the living and conspicuous18 representatives of two worlds of art which differ in their intrinsic essence and in their highest aims. Apollo stands before me as the transfiguring genius of the principium individuationis through which alone the redemption in appearance is to be truly attained19, while by the mystical cheer of Dionysus the spell of individuation is broken, and the way lies open to the Mothers of Being,[20] to the innermost heart of things. This extraordinary antithesis21, which opens up yawningly between plastic art as the Apollonian and music as the Dionysian art, has become manifest to only one of the great thinkers, to such an extent that, even without this key to the symbolism of the Hellenic divinities, he allowed to music a different character and origin in advance of all the other arts, because, unlike them, it is not a copy of the phenomenon, but a direct copy of the will itself, and therefore represents the metaphysical of everything physical in the[Pg 122] world, the thing-in-itself of every phenomenon. (Schopenhauer, Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, I. 310.) To this most important perception of ?sthetics (with which, taken in a serious sense, ?sthetics properly commences), Richard Wagner, by way of confirmation22 of its eternal truth, affixed23 his seal, when he asserted in his Beethoven that music must be judged according to ?sthetic principles quite different from those which apply to the plastic arts, and not, in general, according to the category of beauty: although an erroneous ?sthetics, inspired by a misled and degenerate24 art, has by virtue25 of the concept of beauty prevailing26 in the plastic domain27 accustomed itself to demand of music an effect analogous to that of the works of plastic art, namely the suscitating delight in beautiful forms. Upon perceiving this extraordinary antithesis, I felt a strong inducement to approach the essence of Greek tragedy, and, by means of it, the profoundest revelation of Hellenic genius: for I at last thought myself to be in possession of a charm to enable me—far beyond the phraseology of our usual ?sthetics—to represent vividly28 to my mind the primitive29 problem of tragedy: whereby such an astounding30 insight into the Hellenic character was afforded me that it necessarily seemed as if our proudly comporting31 classico-Hellenic science had thus far contrived32 to subsist33 almost exclusively on phantasmagoria and externalities.
Perhaps we may lead up to this primitive problem with the question: what ?sthetic effect results when the intrinsically separate art-powers,[Pg 123] the Apollonian and the Dionysian, enter into concurrent34 actions? Or, in briefer form: how is music related to image and concept?—Schopenhauer, whom Richard Wagner, with especial reference to this point, accredits35 with an unsurpassable clearness and perspicuity36 of exposition, expresses himself most copiously37 on the subject in the following passage which I shall cite here at full length[21] (Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, I. p. 309): "According to all this, we may regard the phenomenal world, or nature, and music as two different expressions of the same thing,[20] which is therefore itself the only medium of the analogy between these two expressions, so that a knowledge of this medium is required in order to understand that analogy. Music, therefore, if regarded as an expression of the world, is in the highest degree a universal language, which is related indeed to the universality of concepts, much as these are related to the particular things. Its universality, however, is by no means the empty universality of abstraction, but of quite a different kind, and is united with thorough and distinct definiteness. In this respect it resembles geometrical figures and numbers, which are the universal forms of all possible objiects of experience and applicable to them all a priori, and yet are not abstract but perceptiple and thoroughly38 determinate. All possible efforts, excitements[Pg 124] and manifestations40 of will, all that goes on in the heart of man and that reason includes in the wide, negative concept of feeling, may be expressed by the infinite number of possible melodies, but always in the universality of mere41 form, without the material, always according to the thing-in-itself, not the phenomenon,—of which they reproduce the very soul and essence as it were, without the body. This deep relation which music bears to the true nature of all things also explains the fact that suitable music played to any scene, action, event, or surrounding seems to disclose to us its most secret meaning, and appears as the most accurate and distinct commentary upon it; as also the fact that whoever gives himself up entirely42 to the impression of a symphony seems to see all the possible events of life and the world take place in himself: nevertheless upon reflection he can find no likeness43 between the music and the things that passed before his mind. For, as we have said, music is distinguished44 from all the other arts by the fact that it is not a copy of the phenomenon, or, more accurately45, the adequate objectivity of the will, but the direct copy of the will itself, and therefore represents the metaphysical of everything physical in the world, and the thing-in-itself of every phenomenon. We might, therefore, just as well call the world embodied46 music as embodied will: and this is the reason why music makes every picture, and indeed every scene of real life and of the world, at once appear with higher significance; all the more so, to be sure, in proportion as its[Pg 125] melody is analogous to the inner spirit of the given phenomenon. It rests upon this that we are able to set a poem to music as a song, or a perceptible representation as a pantomime, or both as an opera. Such particular pictures of human life, set to the universal language of music, are never bound to it or correspond to it with stringent47 necessity, but stand to it only in the relation of an example chosen at will to a general concept. In the determinateness of the real they represent that which music expresses in the universality of mere form. For melodies are to a certain extent, like general concepts, an abstraction from the actual. This actual world, then, the world of particular things, affords the object of perception, the special and the individual, the particular case, both to the universality of concepts and to the universality of the melodies. But these two universalities are in a certain respect opposed to each other; for the concepts contain only the forms, which are first of all abstracted from perception,—the separated outward shell of things, as it were,—and hence they are, in the strictest sense of the term, abstracta; music, on the other hand, gives the inmost kernel48 which precedes all forms, or the heart of things. This relation may be very well expressed in the language of the schoolmen, by saying: the concepts are the universalia post rem, but music gives the universalia ante rem, and the real world the universalia in re.—But that in general a relation is possible between a composition and a perceptible representation rests, as we have said, upon the[Pg 126] fact that both are simply different expressions of the same inner being of the world. When now, in the particular case, such a relation is actually given, that is to say, when the composer has been able to express in the universal language of music the emotions of will which constitute the heart of an event, then the melody of the song, the music of the opera, is expressive49. But the analogy discovered by the composer between the two must have proceeded from the direct knowledge of the nature of the world unknown to his reason, and must not be an imitation produced with conscious intention by means of conceptions; otherwise the music does not express the inner nature of the will itself, but merely gives an inadequate50 imitation of its phenomenon: all specially5 imitative music does this."
We have therefore, according to the doctrine51 of Schopenhauer, an immediate52 understanding of music as the language of the will, and feel our imagination stimulated53 to give form to this invisible and yet so actively54 stirred spirit-world which speaks to us, and prompted to embody55 it in an analogous example. On the other hand, image and concept, under the influence of a truly conformable music, acquire a higher significance. Dionysian art therefore is wont56 to exercise—two kinds of influences, on the Apollonian art-faculty: music firstly incites57 to the symbolic58 intuition of Dionysian universality, and, secondly59, it causes the symbolic image to stand forth in its fullest significance. From these facts, intelligible60 in themselves and not inaccessible61 to profounder observation,[Pg 127] I infer the capacity of music to give birth to myth, that is to say, the most significant exemplar, and precisely62 tragic myth: the myth which speaks of Dionysian knowledge in symbols. In the phenomenon of the lyrist, I have set forth that in him music strives to express itself with regard to its nature in Apollonian images. If now we reflect that music in its highest potency63 must seek to attain20 also to its highest symbolisation, we must deem it possible that it also knows how to find the symbolic expression of its inherent Dionysian wisdom; and where shall we have to seek for this expression if not in tragedy and, in general, in the conception of the tragic?
From the nature of art, as it is ordinarily conceived according to the single category of appearance and beauty, the tragic cannot be honestly deduced at all; it is only through the spirit of music that we understand the joy in the annihilation of the individual. For in the particular examples of such annihilation only is the eternal phenomenon of Dionysian art made clear to us, which gives expression to the will in its omnipotence64, as it were, behind the principium individuationis, the eternal life beyond all phenomena, and in spite of all annihilation. The metaphysical delight in the tragic is a translation of the instinctively65 unconscious Dionysian wisdom into the language of the scene: the hero, the highest manifestation39 of the will, is disavowed for our pleasure, because he is only phenomenon, and because the eternal life of the will is not affected66 by his annihilation. "We believe in eternal life,"[Pg 128] tragedy exclaims; while music is the proximate idea of this life. Plastic art has an altogether different object: here Apollo vanquishes67 the suffering of the individual by the radiant glorification68 of the eternity69 of the phenomenon; here beauty triumphs over the suffering inherent in life; pain is in a manner surreptitiously obliterated70 from the features of nature. In Dionysian art and its tragic symbolism the same nature speaks to us with its true undissembled voice: "Be as I am! Amidst the ceaseless change of phenomena the eternally creative primordial71 mother, eternally impelling72 to existence, self-satisfying eternally with this change of phenomena!"
[20] Cf. World and Will as Idea, I. p. 339, trans. by Haldane and Kemp.
[21] That is "the will" as understood by Schopenhauer.—TR.
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1
analogous
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| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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deriving
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| v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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antithesis
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| n.对立；相对 | |
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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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affixed
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| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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30
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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comporting
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| v.表现( comport的现在分词 ) | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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concurrent
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| adj.同时发生的，一致的 | |
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accredits
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| v.相信( accredit的第三人称单数 )；委托；委任；把…归结于 | |
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perspicuity
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| n.（文体的）明晰 | |
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copiously
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| adv.丰富地，充裕地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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41
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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42
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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43
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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44
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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45
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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46
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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47
stringent
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| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
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48
kernel
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| n.(果实的)核，仁；(问题)的中心，核心 | |
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49
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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50
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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51
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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52
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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53
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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54
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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55
embody
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| vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录 | |
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56
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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57
incites
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的第三人称单数 ) | |
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58
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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59
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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60
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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61
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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62
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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63
potency
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| n. 效力，潜能 | |
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64
omnipotence
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| n.全能，万能，无限威力 | |
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65
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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67
vanquishes
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| v.征服( vanquish的第三人称单数 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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68
glorification
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| n.赞颂 | |
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69
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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70
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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71
primordial
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| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
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72
impelling
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| adj.迫使性的，强有力的v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的现在分词 ) | |
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