FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE BIOGRAPHY

1844-1900

Friedrich Nietzsche, famous German Philosopher who went insane at 45 years old and said "WHAT DOESN'T KILL US MAKES US STRONGER." Nietzsche declared that "GOD IS DEAD", opposed Christianity and believed in the concept of "WILL TO POWER" and "SUPERMAN": the ideal human who can channel passions into creativity and who is superior to the moron masses.

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Rocken, Saxony (the present-day Germany) on Oct. 15, 1844. He came from a line of Protestant churchman - his father and grandfathers were Lutherman ministers. He studied Classical literature and language at the universities in Bonn and Leipzig. At the age of 24, Nietzsche became a professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

After reading the works of the German philosopher Schopenhauer, Nietzsche became a philosopher and began living a life of solitude. He agreed with Schopenhauer that there is no God and life is filled with pain and suffering, but Nietzsche came to his own conclusion that humans must get everything out of life and set out to find out how to best do that.

Nietzsch fell for the brilliant music of Richard Wagner. In 1868, Nietzsche met Wagner and thought that Wagners operas were a revival of Western civilation. They became close friends, but he soon rebelled against both Wagner and Schopenhauer by writing the anti-Wagner "The Case of Wagner" in 1888 and "Nietzsche versus Wagner" in 1895.

His first great work was "The Birth of Tragedy" in 1872, which was a new theory of the origins of classical Greek culture. Nietzsche believed that Greek culture could be best understood as resulting from a conflict of 2 human drives: the "Apollonian" (clarity, beauty and order) and the "Dionysian" (ripping apart illusions to see reality).

Nietzsche was totally against religion, in particular Christianity. Nietzsche proclaimed that "God is dead" in his most famous work, "Thus Spake Zarathustra," (1883-1892) saying that most people do not believe in God and religion is no longer the foundation for morals. "Thus Spake Zarathustra" was not successful when it was first published, but is now considered a masterpiece in world literature. In 1896, the composer Richard Strauss composed a tone-poem called "Also Sprach Zarathustra" based on Nietzsche's words.

Nietzsche's works "Beyond Good and Evil" (1886) and "The Genealogy of Morals" (1887) dealt with the origins of moral values. Nietzsche believed that in early civilization the theory of perpetual elimination of the weak by the strong and the incompetent by the competent was correct. But then the Judeo-Christian religion disagreed and said that thought was wrong and the weak and meek shall inherit the earth. What happened was the geniuses, innovators and creators were made equal to the common masses. Nietzsche believed that Christianity's emphasis on the afterlife make humans less capable of handling life right now.

Nietzsche believed that religious "morality" killed the genius of innovation and could end culture and civilization. Since there is no God, there must be HUMAN creations and realizations. Humans have the "will to power" in politics, culture and everywhere. Nietzsche's ideal was the super-human-being or the "OVERMAN" or "SUPERMAN", which is a superior individual who controls his/her passions and uses them in a creative way. The SUPERMAN'S will to power would set him/her apart from the herd of inferior masses. Nietzsche was famous for his much quoted line "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

In 1889, Nietzsche tragically suffered a nervous breakdown and was overcome by mental illness in his mid forties, allegedly brought on by tertiary syphilis. The actual breakdown started in Turin, where Nietzsche collapsed with his arms around the neck of a horse that was being whipped by a coachman. He became hopelessly insane and on August 25, 1900 at the age 56, Nietzsche died.

Nietzsche's ideas and reputation became international in the 1890's, but he was never aware of that. The playwright, George Bernard Shaw was influenced by Nietzsche's life assertion and Shaw named one of his plays "Man and Superman." The famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, English poet W.B. Yeats, the composers Delius, Schoenberg, and Mahler and even dictators like Hitler and Mussolini were all influenced by the writings of Nietzsche!

EDGAR ALLAN POE

EDGAR ALLAN POE BIOGRAPHY
1809-1849

Tortured genius writer of such brilliant masterpieces as "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Raven", Poe is considered the Master of the Macabre and the Father of the Modern Detective Story and died peniless at the age of 40.

Edgar Allan Poe was born on Jan. 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts to parents who were travelling actors. Poe was cruelly abandoned by his father and his mother tragically died before he was 3 years old, leaving him an orphan. He was sent to be raised by his rich, dominating merchant godfather, John Allan and his wife. Poe studied in schools in Europe and at the University of Virginia. He left the University after only 8 months, due to gambling debts. Poe attended West Point and was expelled for infraction of rules.

In 1827, at the age of 18, Poe's first book, a volume of poems called "Tamerlane and other Poems", was published (a single rare copy has recently sold for $200,000!). In 1835, Poe became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, but lost that post due to his excessive drinking. Poe's life was filled with self-destruction, alcoholism, ill health, gambling debts and total poverty. In 1836, Poe married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia Clemm.

Poe made many enemies in his life by challenging the moralistic literary establishment and by his vicious critical style of other writer's works. Poe alternated between editing and writing prose and poetry. Throughout the 1830's and 1840's, he wrote macabre, terrifying short stories and poems, such as the famous works:

"The Raven" ("Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary'")

"The Tell-Tale Heart" ("I admit the deed! - Tear up the planks! here, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart!")

"The Masque of the Red Death", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Black Cat", "The Purloined Letter", "The Fall of the House of Usher".

"The Raven" won Poe national fame and Poe finally began to become famous for his works. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" was considered the first modern detective story. Poe was also considered the inventor of gothic fiction.

In 1847, Poe's wife, Virginia, died of tuberculosis. Poe began to drink more and became more out of control and even took opium. Poe wrote the famous poem "Annabel Lee" ("That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.") for Virginia. By 1848, Poe was going mad and attempted suicide.

A year later Poe was due to marry the rich Sarah Shelton. On the day of their wedding, October 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found drunk, lying in the gutter outside a tavern in Baltimore and was taken unconscious to the hospital.

Four days later, Edgar Allan Poe, peniless and tortured genius, died on October 7, 1849 at the age of 40. Every year since 1949 (the 100th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death), a mysterious person comes to Poe's grave and leaves 3 roses and a bottle of cognac on Poe's birthday.

Edgar Allan Poe was a brilliant writer of horrifying, yet beautiful stories and poems, who used his tormented genius to create masterpieces.

HIERONYMUS BOSCH

"THE SHIP OF FOOLS" by Hieronymus Bosch

HIERONYMUS BOSCH BIOGRAPHY
1450-1516

Hieronymus Bosch is the genius Netherlander Painter, born in 1450 in s'Hertogenbosch. Bosch's paintings combined irreverent and grotesque images, fantasy, freaks, devils, and bizarre symbolism to depict corruption, indulgence, religious hypocrisy and human greed.

Among Bosch's most famous paintings are "The Ship of Fools" c. 1500 (above), which is based on German writer Sebastian Brant's work "Das Narrenschiff"- an allegorical poem about human folly of lazy, greedy, useless people on a ship going no where and led by no one. Bosch based his masterpiece on this poem and painted a ship with a drunk nun and monk singing together, a court jester, naked people, and other symbols of stupidity, corruption, indulgence and religious hypocrisy. Bosch also painted the famous "The Garden Of Earthly Delights" and "Christ Carrying The Cross".

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN BIOGRAPHY
1770-1827

The Greatest Composition in Musical History, Beethoven's SYMPHONY #9 "THE CHORAL" (1824) was composed when he was TOTALLY DEAF!

"A few fly-bites can not stop a spirited horse." - LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Ludwig van Beethoven is the MOST FAMOUS and GREATEST CLASSICAL COMPOSER WHO EVER LIVED. Beethoven is remembered for his POWERFUL, ANGRY, GENIUS MUSIC and for composing the MOST EXCITING and INTENSE MUSIC IN HISTORY, while being DEAF! Beethoven created the "ROMANTIC" style of Classical Music (development from a motive or idea, rather than a melody).

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, on December 16 (or 15), 1770 in a family of musicians. Beethoven's father tried to force Beethoven to become "The New Mozart". Instead, he become the ONE and ONLY BEETHOVEN.

In 1787, Beethoven moved to Vienna where he studied with JOSEPH HAYDN and WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART. He was a piano virtuoso whose playing style exploded with fire and energy. Beethoven received patronage from the Austrian Royalty, WITHOUT sacrificing his independence and power.

In 1794 (at the age of 23), Beethoven began hearing noises, which were the first symptoms of DEAFNESS. He sought medical help, but with no success. In 1802 he was so distraught with deafness, he actually contemplated suicide, as witnessed in a Last Will and Testament he wrote called the "HEILIGENSTADT TESTAMENT."

Beethoven's Symphony #3 ("Eroica"), written in 1803, becomes a LANDMARK in musical history-- the FIRST TRUE "ROMANTIC" symphonic work, which was originally dedicated to NAPOLEON, who Beethoven thought was fighting for democracy. When Beethoven found out that Napoleon made himself Emperor, Beethoven furiously removed the dedication and named the symphony "EROICA." Even while his deafness worsen, Beethoven's music became even MORE Powerful. The BEST example of this is the FAMOUS SYMPHONY #5, with the MOST FAMOUS 4 NOTES in MUSICAL HISTORY.

In 1810, by the age of 40, Beethoven could no longer perform as a pianist and in 1822, by the age of 52, he was totally deaf. Beethoven became even MORE temperamental and furious and channeled all his anger into his music. The Greatest Composition in Musical History, Beethoven's SYMPHONY #9 "THE CHORAL" (1824) was composed when he was TOTALLY DEAF!

Beethoven spent his last days in a shabby room, dying of Cirrhois of the Liver and Dropsy. On his last day on March 26, 1827, at around 4 or 5 in the afternoon it was storming and there was heavy thunder. The musician Anselm Huttenbrenner says of Beethoven's dying moments, "Beethoven opened his eyes wide; he raised his right arm, fist clenched, and stared for a few seconds with a proud and menacing gaze into the emptiness before him." On that day, March 26, 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven died leaving his mark of genius for all time.