ROGER HOLLINRAKE, OXFORD

A NOTE ON NIETZSCHES 'GONDELLIED*

l
The most outstanding of Nietzsche's shorter poems is the lyric
variously entitled by his editors 'Venedig* or 'Gondellied'. The 'Gondellied*
formed an integral part of the Intermezzo* in the privately printed edition
of Nietzsche contra Wagner in 1889; because of uncertainty about Nietz-
sche** intentions at the proof stage, the 'Intermezzo* was transferred to the
first edition of Ecce homo, 'Warum ich so klug bin*, § 7, published some
nineteen years later in 1908.1 The following text appeared in the 1889
edition:
An der Brücke stand
jüngst ich in brauner Nacht.
Fernher kam Gesang:
goldener Tropfen quoll's
über die zitternde Fläche weg.
Gondeln, Lichter, Musik —
trunken schwamm's in die
Dämmrung hinaus ...
Meine Seele, ein Saitenspiel,
sang sich, unsichtbar berührt,
heimlich ein Gondellied dazu,
zitternd vor bunter Seligkeit*
— Hone Jemand ihr zu? ...
The first sketch of the 'Gondellied* dates from between mid-November
and mid-December 18882; it follows that the poem did not draw upon a
contemporary experience (for Nietzsche did not visit Venice in his last
active year), but had its origin in memory and introspection*
On first reading, the 'Gondellied* conveys the impression of a vivid
personal experience captured in flight, an impression enhanced by the free
verse with its wayward metrical organization, frequent enjambement, and
1
The editors of KGW solvc thts bibliographical puzzle by rclegating the 'Intermezzo'
to botb works (Mazrino Montinari, neuer Abschnitt in Nietzsches "Ecce homo**,
Nictztdx-Stmiicn, I (1972), 390, n. 20),
2
I am grateful to Prof. Dr- Mazzino Montinari for this Information whidi supmedes
the tentacive and inaccoratc niliog given b the notei to GA and MusA,
140 Reger Hollinrake

lack of rhyme* Nietzsche's attadiment to Vemce is not in question. 'Wenn

ich ein andres Wort für Musik suche, so finde ich immer nur das Wort
Venedig', he writes in the prose introduction, and continues:
Ich weiss keinen Unterschied zwischen Thränen und Musik zu machen, —
ich weiss das Glück, den Süden nicht ohne Schauder von Furchtsamkeit
zu denken,
After 1880, Nietzsche generally spent part of the summer in the city
where his amanuensis, the aspiring composer Peter Gast, lived at the home
of the Countesses Marina and Anna Diedo.3 When writing to his Venetian
'maestro* on 5 Mardi 1884 just before his second visit, he expressed the
hope of taking rooms on the Grand Canal, 'daß ich in die ganze lange bunte
Stille vom Fenster aus hinaus schauen kann'; and he spoke with feeling of
the impression Venice had made some four years previously: *Idi rechne es
nicht zu Italien: irgend was vom Orient ist da hinuntergefallen/ His wish
was granted on his third visit between 10 ApriKand 6 June 1885, when he
occupied a room whpse window gave a panoramic view through the giant
ardi of the Rialto Bridge beneath which on fine evenings a dioir from the
Arsenal sang choruses and serenades on barges.4 It was at the Rialto Bridge
on the night before his departure this year that he heard the extraordinary
song which helps to explain the subject of his poem. 'Die letzte Nacht an
der Rialtobrücke brachte mir noch eine Musik, die midi zu Thränen be-
wegte', he related to Gast on 2 July after his return to Sils-Maria, 'ein
unglaubliches altmodisches Adagio, wie als ob es noch gar kein Adagio vor-
her gegeben hätte.'5
The music Nietzsche .heard at the Rialto Bridge after taking leave of
Gast on 5 June 1885 — 'ein unglaubliches altmodisches Adagio' — may be
identified äs one of the traditional diants sung by the Venetian gondoliers
to the ottave rime of Ariosto and Torquato Tasso. The ottave rime diants
receive continuous documentation in the works of musical theorists, writers,
and travellers from the Renaissance to the nineteenth Century.6 A parti-
8
In the letter Overbeck received on 2 May 1884, Nietzsche spoke of Gast's composi-
tions, 'Musik, die vielfach selber eine Art idealisches Venedig ist'; oii 21 May he
mentioned a possible production of Gast's Opera Der Löwe von Venedig in Dresden:
'Es ist möglich, daß 20 bezaubernde Melodien daraus einmal mit dem Wort und
Begriff ''Venedig" zusammenwachsen werden' (Afoizsc&ei Briefwechsel mit Overbeck>
ed. R. Oehler jointly with C. A. Bernoulli, Leipzig 1916, pp. 255 f. and 258). These and
other similar Statements in the letters clearly anticipate the phrasing of the 'Intermezzo/
4
Gast's note to Nietzsche's letter of July 1885 (GBr IV.· 476).
5
GBr IV. 218, and Gast's annotation, ibid. IV. 476.
6
For an outline of the principal sources from Tinctoris and Zarlino to Franz Liszt
(who used the melody of one of the diants in his Symphonie poem Tasso. Lamento e
trionfo), see F. W. Sternfeld, 'Renaissance Music in Goethe', The Germanic Review,
XX (1945), 241—60.
 A npte on Nietzsche^ 'Gondellied* 141

cularly eloquent and inf luential accaunt was given by Goethe, whose atten-
tion appears to have been called to a transcription by Jean-Jacques Rous-
seau around the time that he conceived the idea of a drama on the subject
of Tasso.7 Accordingly, during his visit to Venice in October 1786, Goethe
went to some trouble to organize a performance whidi he described in
detail in an artide contributed anonymously to Wieland's Der Teutsche
Merkur on his return from his first Italian journey.
Two diaracteristics of-this ancient music emerge with unmistakable
clarity from the writings of those who were privileged to hear it. First,
the indescribably plaintive quality of the sound. c[Der Gesang]/ Goethe
wrote in Der Teutsche Merkur, 'klingt wie eine Klage ohne Trauer, und
man kann sich der Thränen kaum enthalten' (compare Nietzsche's 'Musik,
die midi zu Thränen bewegte*, and his reflection: 'Ich weiss keinen Unter-
schied zwischen Thränen und Musik zu machen'). Second, the distinctive
antiphonal rendition of the poetry and music by two gondoliers, frequently
(but not invariably) situated at a considerable distance from eadi other:
Eine allgemeine Convention heißt sie von Vers zu Vers wechseln, der
Gesang kann Nächte durch währen, sie unterhalten sich ohne sich zu
ermüden, der Zuhörer, der zwisdien beiden durchfährt, nimmt Theil
daran, indem die beiden Sänger mit sich beschäftigt sind.6

II
Before the case is closed, a more nearly contemporary description of
the gondoliers* song merits consideration for its bearing on Nietzsche's
'Gondellied*. This occurs in Richard Wagner's memoirs of his first sojourn
in Venice when he occupied the almost derelict Palazzo Giustiniani on the
Grand Canal. The diary kept for Mathilde Wesendonck records his intro-
duction to the chants on the night of 5 September 1858, not long after his
arrival9; a paragraph in Mein Leben dictated to Cosima around the time

7
Rousseau** transcription» prepared during his residente in Venice in 1743—4 äs
sccretary to the Comte de Montaigu, appeared posthumously under the title Tasso
alla Vcncziana* in Les Contolatiom des mUhcs de ma vic, ou Rccttcil a'<ar$> romanccs
€t ditos, Paris 1781 (cf. also the eatry <Barcarollcs> in J.-J. Rousseau 's Dtctionnaire de
musique, Paris 1768, p. 39). Performance* of these songs by Corona Schroter are
mentioncd in Gocthe's diary, 12 and 15 August 1781, and in letters to Kayscr of
13 August and 10 September 1781 (Werke, herausgegeben im Auftrage der Groß-
berzogin Sophie von Sachten, 133 vols,, Weimar 1887—1919, III Abt., L 13, and
IV Abt., \MS2f. and 189).
* Goethe, loc- CÄ, I Abt*, XXXIL 345 ff. Cf. ibid., XXIV. 361 ff.; XXX, 129 ff.; III
Abt^ L 279 ff.; and Goethes Gespräche^ cd* Flodoard von Biedermann, 5 voll., Leipzig
1909 ff., IIL 387 f. (cited by F» W. Sternfeld, op. clt, pp. 248 and 251).
* Ridxtrd Wagner an Mathilde Wcsendmde, ed. Wolfgang Golther, Berlin "1904, p. 39.
142 Roger Hollinrake

of Nietzsche's first visits to Tribschen shows that more than ten years later
the event had lost none of its immediacy.10
Mein Leben has special ties with Nietzsche, who for nearly six months
until June 1870 acted äs liaison between Wagner and the Basel printer
G. A. Bonfantini; it would not be out of character if Wagner went over the
passage in question during the early meetings,11
Still stronger ties with Nietzsche may be established in the case öf a
parallel passage in Wagner's centenary essay Beethoven in 1870. Here,
the story — set in relief in this highly theoretical tract — of Wagner's stay
at the Palazzo Giustiniani illustrates an extended inquiry into Schopen-
hauer's theory of dreams, 'Versuch über das Geistersehn', and the meta-
physics of music propounded in Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, I,
S 52 and II, §39:
In schlafloser Nadit trat ich einst auf den Balkon meines Fensters am
großen Kanal in Venedig: wie ein tiefer Traum lag die märchenhafte
Lagunenstadt im Sdiatten vor mir ausgedehnt. Aus dem lautlosesten
Schweigen erhob sich da der mäditige rauhe Klageruf eines soeben auf
seiner Barke erwaditen Gondolier's, mit welchem dieser in wiederholten
Absätzen in die Nadit hineinrief, bis aus weitester Ferne der gleiche Ruf
dem näditlidien Kanal entlang antwortete: ich erkannte die uralte,
sdrwermüthige melodisdie Phrase, weldier seiner Zejt audi die bekannten
Verse Tasso's untergelegt worden, die aber an sich gewiß so alt ist, als
Venedigs Kanäle mit ihrer Bevölkerung. Nach feierlichen Pausen belebte
sich endlich der weithin tönende Dialog und sdiien sidi im Einklang zu
verschmelzen, bis aus der Nähe wie aus der Ferne sanft das Tönen wieder
im neugewonnenen Sdilummer erlosch. Was konnte mir das von der
Sonne bestrahlte, bunt durchwimmelte Venedig des Tages von sidi sagen,
das jener tönende Nachttraum mir nidit unendlidi tiefer unmittelbar zum
Bewußtsein gebracht gehabt hätte?12
Beethoven, like the relevant passage in Mein Leben, was written soon
after Wagner's introduction to Nietzsche. The discussion of Schopenhauers
aesthetics — the first explicit discussion in'Wagner's prose-works and a
turning-point in the development of his artistic theory — almost certainly
owes something to the exdianges in the first years of the associatiori. The
manuscript (or proof) was sent to Basel in advance of publication13; during
10
Richard Wagner, Mein Leben, 2 vols., Mündien 1911, II. 684 f.
11
Mein Leben is not listed in the inventory of Nietzsche's library. Louis Kelterborn
recorded inconclusively: 'In jenem Sommer [1874] erzählte mir Nietzsdie auch...,
dass er einer der wenigen Auserlesenen sei, welchen der Meister ein Exemplar zuge-
dacht habe'(B AB IV. 348).
12
Richard Wagner, Gesammelte Sarijten und Dichtungen, 10 vols.,' Leipzig 1872—83,
IX. 92 f.
13
Nietzsche to Gersdorff, 7 November 1870 (BAB III. 83 f.).
 A note on Nietzsdhe's 'Gondellied* 143

his stay with the family at Christmas 1870, Nietzsche duly received a
printed copy: *ein prachtvolles Exemplar', äs he called it in a letter to his
sister on 30 December. In correspondence with Wagner, Nietzsche greeted
the essay with a certain show of circumspection.14 Yet he acclaimed it
eagerly enough in letters to friends15; and he was careful in the following
months to dispel any misgivings at Tribschen by a forthright adknowledge-
ment in the emergent Die Geburt der Tragödie, § 16, where Schopenhauers
theory of music sanctioned in Beethoven (specifically cited) is given äs the
key to his Interpretation of classical tragedy CNadi der Erkenntniss
[Schopenhauers] ungeheuren Gegensatzes fühlte ich eine starke Nöthigung,
midi dem Wesen der griechischen Tragödie... zu nahen*).
The parity between Beethoven and the nearly contemporary Die Ge-
burt der Tragödie is seen not only in Nietzsdie's elaboration of Schopen-
hauer^ theory of dreams in his opening pages, but also, more importantly,
in his discussion of two sizeable extracts from Die Welt als Wille und Vor-
stellung, I, §§ 51 and 52, dealing with the metaphysics of music, in SS 5 and
16 respectively.
It may therefore be confidently asserted that towards the end of
1870, when particularly alert to Wagner's influence, Nietzsdie came
across the account of the nocturnal vigil of the gondoliers in Beethoven,
and that for more than a year until Die Geburt der Tragödie was published
in January 1872 he was preoccupied with this seminal document (äs late äs
1876, in Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, §10, it is included in a list of
Wagner's prose-works that silence all contradiction).16
Evidence of a continuing preoccupation with Beethoven is found in
Zur Genealogie der Moral, conceived, composed, and sent to press between
10—30 July 1887, äs Nietzsche says in his letter to Brandes of 10 April
1888. Here, in the last essay, *Was bedeuten asketische Ideale?', S 5, Nietz-
sche speaks of the compiete contradiction wrought in Wagner's aesthetic
creed between Oper und Drama (1851) and the writings published after
1870:
J4
Nietzsche to Wagner» 10 November 1870: the last sentences have been torn off, but
the iurviving ponion is cautious rathcr than critical (BAB III. B5 f.). This letter gave
serious offene« at Tribsdien (R* Du Moulin-Eckart, Cosima Wagner, 2 vols., Berlin
1929—51, L 530).
u
Nlctzsdie to Rohdc, ca. 27 November and 15 December 1870; to Gersdorff, 12 Pecem-
Ix?r 187D <BAB HI 87 ff.; 94 ff-; aftd 90 ff-)» See also Kelterborn's reminisccnccs (BAB
IH. 394).
11
Thcrc h ad L&expücable corninent in the letter of 25 June 1872 in which Gersdorff
cnjoined Rohde to reply to Wilamowit^Mollendorffs atudc on GT: *Sie können die
Rolle des antwortenden Gondoliers übernehmen' (Die Briefe des Freibcrrn Carl von
GtnJorff an Friedrich Nietztcbe* «d. Carl Sdblcchta jointiy with Erharde Thicrbadi,
4 rols^ Weimar W4~7t IV, 5 £.),
144 Roger Hollirtrake

[Wagner] begriff mit Einem Male, dass mit der Sdiopenhauer'schen

Theorie und Neuerung mehr zu madien sei in majorem musicae gloriarn,
— nämlidi mit der Sottverainetät der Musik, so wie sie Schopenhauer
begriff: die Musik abseits gestellt gegen alle übrigen Künste, die un-
abhängige Kunst an sidh, nicht, wie diese, Abbilder der Phänomenalität
bietend, vielmehr die Sprache des Willens selbst redend, unmittelbar aus
dem 'Abgrunde'17 heraus, als dessen eigenste, ursprünglichste, unabge-
leitetste Offenbarung. Mit dieser ausserordentlichen Werthsteigerung der
Musik, wie sie aus der Schopenhauer'schen Philosophie zu erwachsen
schien, stieg mit Einem Male auch der Musiker selbst unerhört im Preise:
er wurde nunmehr ein Orakel, ein Priester, ja mehr als ein Priester, eine
Art Mundstück des -sich' der Dinge, ein Telephon des Jenseits, — er
redete fürderhin nicht nur Musik, dieser Bauchredner Gottes, — er redete
Metaphysik: was Wunder, dass er endlich eines Tags asketische Ideale
redete? .. .lö
It will be replied that Nietzsche had no need of prompting in arder to
achieve this characteristically pungent summary of Sdiopenhauer's meta-
physics of music and its bearing on Wagner's new synthetic art form. It is
the more striking therefore that his words correspond to the words in
Beethoven that immediately precede the description of the Venetian>chants:
Eine Aufklärung über das Wesen der Musik als Kunst glauben wir, so
schwierig sie ist, am sichersten auf dem Wege der Betrachtung des
Schaffens des inspirirten Musikers zu gewinnen. In vieler Beziehung muß
dieses von demjenigen anderer Künstler grundverschieden sein.
Wagner goes on to endorse Schopenhauer^ conception of the special nature
of musical Inspiration, relating it to the state of clairvoyant perception
attained in dreams:
Diese ungeheure Überfluthung aller Schranken der Erscheinung muß im
begeisterten Musiker nothwendig eine Entzückung hervorrufen, mit wel- -
eher keine andere sich vergleichen ließe: in ihr erkennt sich der Wille als
allmächtiger Wille überhaupt: nicht stumm hat er sich vor der Anschau-
ung zurückzuhalten, sondern laut verkündet er sich selbst als bewußte
Idee der Welt. — Nur ein Zustand kann den seinigen übertreffen: der
des Heiligen .. ,1*

Nietzsche's grasp of these precepts is so convincing and the sequence of his

argument is so close to Wagner's that it is hard to discount the possibility
that he had recourse to the text of Beethoven onee more around the time
that Zur Genealogie der Moral, "Was bedeuten asketische Ideale?', was'
written.
17
Wagner's term for the ordiestra-pit in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus ('Das Bühnenfest^
spielhaus zu Bayreuth': Wagner, loc. cit., IX. 402). Cf. Gersdorff to Nietzsche,
22 May and 6 August 1875 (Sdilechta and Thierbadb, op. cit., III. 16 and 23).
18
KGW VI 2, 364.
19
Wagner, loc. cit., IX. 90 f.
 A note on Nietssdie's 'Gondellied9 145

On careful inspection, the ensuing passage in Beethoven, describing the

gondoliers* song will be f ound to contain in embryo many of the elements
of Nietzsdtie's 'GondelliedVNot only the graphic opening lines of the latter
depicting the solitary witness at the bridge, and the curiously evocative,
distant melody suggest this comparison. Students (noting the contrast with
the poem 'Mein Gluckl* in Die fröhliche Wissensdiaft, 'Lieder des Prinzen
Vogelfrei*) have remarked on die coupling of the imagery bf night with the
imagery of music äs one of the most arresting features of Nietzsche's
exegesis20; the precedent in Beethoven is particularly clear ('Was konnte
mir das von der Sonne bestrahlte, bunt durchwimmelte Venedig des Tages
von sich sagen, das jener tönende Nacfattraum mir nicht unendlich tiefer
unmittelbar zum Bewußtsein gebracht gehabt hätte?'). Likewise, in both
cases the initial musical strain is answered by another: i t is the traditional
'duologue*, perceptively described in Beethoven, that is conveyed in the
highly articulate, bipartite structure of Nietzsche's poem.
If it would be taking the comparison too far to insist that the 'Gondel-
lied* be classed äs a deliberate, if inspired exercise in the art of poetic
paraphrase, it is worth remarking that the essay that helped to elicit the
train of thought pursued in Die Geburt der Tragödie, recently recalled and
expounded in one of Nietzsche*s most important dialectical works, affords
insight into the poem*s genesis.
// am grateful to Albi Rosenthal, Esq., for allowing nie to inspcct the
copy of 'Nietzsche contra Wagner', formerly in the possession of Franz
t from the Rosenthal-Levy Cottection, Boars HUI, Oxford.]

Lc-, F. A* G. Lostl, 'Fricdridi Nietz$<fcc'* *Vcnicc*: an Interpretation', Hermatbena,

CV (1967), 60—73; S.LGitoan, **Braune Nadit": FriedriA NietwAe's Vcactun
Poems4, NittwlK-Siuditn, I (1972), 247—60.