Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) supported the unification of Europe and reflected on this like
few other philosophers before or after him. Many of his works are concerned with the present
state and future of European culture and humanity. Resisting the nationalist nonsense and
politics of dissolution of his day he advocated the birth of good Europeans i.e.
supra-national individuals and the amalgamation of nations.Nietzsche Wagner Europe analyzes
the development of Friedrich Nietzsche's ideal of European culture based on his musical
aesthetics. It does so against the background of contemporary searches for a wider cultural
meaning beyond Europe's economic-political union. The book claims that Nietzsche always
propagated the aestheticization of Europe but that his view on how to achieve this changed as
a result of his dramatically altering philosophy of music. The main focus is on Nietzsche's
passion for and later aversion to Wagner's music and in direct connection with this his
surprising embrace of Italian operas as new forms of Dionysian music and of Goethe as a model
of Good Europeanism.
