The Case of Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner, and Selected Aphorisms. · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
6.
Never let us acknowledge that music “may be a recreation,” that it may “enliven,” that it may “give pleasure.” _Never let us give pleasure!_—we shall be lost if people once again think of music hedonistically.… That belongs to the bad eighteenth century.… On the other hand, nothing would be more advisable (between ourselves) than a dose of—_cant, sit venia verbo_. This imparts dignity.—And let us take care to select the precise moment when it would be fitting to have black looks, to sigh openly, to sigh devoutly, to flaunt grand Christian sympathy before their eyes. “Man is corrupt who will save him? _what will save him?_” Do not let us reply. We must be on our guard. We must control our ambition, which would bid us found new religions. But no one must doubt that it is _we_ who save him, that in _our_ music alone salvation is to be found.… (See Wagner’s essay, “Religion and Art.”)
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