Wagner the Philosopher

That Nietzsche was at one time utterly devoted to Wagner cannot be denied; this devotion was not only due to Wagner's music and dramatic poetry, but also to his philosophising;"The highest and most inspiring moments of my life are closely associated with your name."If it be the fate of genius to belong to the 'select few', I make bold to count myself among these 'select few', since realising how incapable the world at large is of comprehending your personality, or of feeling the deeply ethical current by which your life, your writings, and your music are permeated - in short, of sensing an atmosphere of that serious and more spiritual outlook upon life of which we poor Germans have been robbed overnight, as it were, by every conceivable sort of political misery, philosophical nonsense, and aggressive Judaism".[Nietzsche, letter to Wagner, Spring 1869]

That Nietzsche approved of 'Wagner the Philosopher' during this period is attested by the following;"A short time ago Wagner gave me a manuscript of his to read entitled: 'State and Religion'. This essay is of such Nobility of thought".[Nietzsche, letter to Rhode, August 1869]

This Essay of Wagner's is SEMINAL to Nietzsche's philosophy, and so a synopsis of its main points is invaluable;
"Wagner had written, at the request of Louis II, King of Bavaria, a short treatise on social metaphysics; traces of the impression Nietzsche received from it are to be discovered in his work down to the very end.In it, Wagner recognised that the masses experience only such needs as are gross, elementary and short-lived.
For them, all Noble ends are unattainable; and the problem which reality obliges us to solve is this: how are we to contrive things so that the masses shall serve a Culture which must always be beyond their comprehension, and serve it with zeal and love, even to the sacrifice of life?Consider Nature: no one understands her ends, and yet all beings serve her. How does Nature obtain their adhesion to life?
Wagner answers that she does so by DECEIVING HER CREATURES.
She puts them in hope of an immutable and ever-delayed happiness. She gives them those instincts which constrain the humblest of animals to lengthy sacrifices and voluntary pains.She envelops in illusion all living beings, and thus persuades them to struggle and to suffer with unalterable constancy.

Society ought to be upheld by similar artifices.It is illusions that assure its duration, and the task of those who rule men is to maintain and to propagate these conserving illusions.Patriotism is the most essential.The Patriotic illusion assures the permanence of the State, but does not in itself suffice to guarantee a High Culture. Here, a second illusion is necessary, the religious illusion whose dogmas symbolise a profound unity and a universal love.The ordinary man, if he be penetrated with this double illusion, can live a happy and worthy life: his way is made clear, he is saved.

But the life of the Rulers is a graver and a more dangerous thing - it is they who propagate illusions, therefore they judge them. Life appears to them unveiled, and they know how tragic a thing it is;'The great man, the exceptional man', writes Wagner, 'finds himself practically every day in the same condition in which the ordinary man despairs of life, and has recourse to suicide'.
The ruling Aristocracy are fore-armed by their valour against so cowardly a temptation. Nevertheless, they experience a bitter need to 'turn their back on the world'. They desire for themselves a restful illusion, of which they may be at the same time the authors and the accessories.Here Art intervenes to save them, not to exalt the naive enthusiasm of the people, but to alleviate the unhappy lives of the Nobles and to sustain their valour.'
Art I present to my dear friend [Louis II] as the promised and benignant land. If Art cannot lift us in a real and complete manner above life, at least it lifts us in life itself to the very highest of regions. It gives life the appearance of a game, it withdraws us from the common lot, it ravishes and consoles us' ".[from Halevy's 'The Life of Friedrich Nietzsche']

Here we have the basic Nietzschean view of the super-human Aristocracy. Referring again to the Essay, in that letter to Rhode quoted from above, Nietzsche writes;"Better than anyother mortal, the King should understand the tragic essence of life".