ABSTRACT
By means of Greek culture, Friedrich Nietzsche both casts another light on and brings another reference to Richard Wagner’s question of relation of art and life. Greek art had certainly been present in Wagner’s theoretical reflections. When, in an essay like Art and Revolution, he calls for a reconciliation of the split between art and the people, it is to the Greeks that he turns, making of them the absolute antithesis to the schism that defines modern art. Throughout his entire life, there is no doubt that Nietzsche never ceased asking these questions and shifting their terms. And his questioning was all the more intense because his fascination with the person and work of Wagner had led him to invest the creation and reception of Wagner’s music with a considerable historical impact. The strategy of The Case of Wagner consists in showing that one must search elsewhere, wait for something other than what Wagnerian drama can promise.
