Abenddämmerung–Sunset: Contemplating the Sublime Beauty of the Death of God

In the 1848-49 revolution Wagner fought for democracy
side-by-side with Socialist Anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin.
Manning the barricades with musket in hand Wagner cried out:
"All who have hearts, all who have the blood and spirit of their
forefathers, and love their country follow me, and death to the tyrant.”
Richard Wagner, 1849

If it is hard not to think of Valhalla—castle of the Gods—when you see vast mountain landscapes with craggy peaks then it is equally hard not to think of the gods in Valhalla going up flames in Götterdämmerung whenever you see a sublime sunset. It is a moment that Wagner equated with the Death of God—the worship of whom Wagner regarded as a form of barbarism—and the apocalyptic end of the authoritarian power that organised religion exerts over humanity. "Sublime" is a word that overused, but here I mean it in its original philosophical meaning, which here takes on the meaning of a sublime ending to the Kingdom of God consumed in flames. Of course Abenddämmerung is the German for sunset. Here are few for you to contemplate as you meditate over just how sublime a moment the Death of God is:

I thought Wagner would be only too pleased to see that I had also thrown in the following rightfully famous passages on the aesthetic contemplation of the sublime from Schopenhauer's die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (World as Will and Representation):

[I]f ... objects [that] invite us to pure contemplation, have a hostile relation to the human Will in general, as it exhibits itself in its objectivity, the human body—if they are opposed to it, so that it is menaced by the irresistible predominance of their power, or sinks into insignificance before their immeasurable  greatness; if, nevertheless, the beholder does not direct his attention to this eminently hostile relation to his Will, but, although perceiving and recognising it, turns consciously away from it, forcibly detaches himself from his Will and its relations, and, giving himself up entirely to knowledge, quietly contemplates those very objects that are so terrible to the Will, comprehends only their Idea, which is foreign to all relation, so that he lingers gladly over its contemplation, and is thereby raised above himself, his person, his Will, and all Will:—in that case he is filled with the sense of the sublime, he is in the state of spiritual exaltation, and therefore the object producing such a state is called sublime. 

In other words, in detached contemplation of the sublime, the overwhelming power of Nature—capable of annihilating us in an instant—is suddenly elevated up to become spectacularly beautiful rather than terrifying and hostile.

Later Schopenhauer goes on:

But the impression becomes still stronger, if, when we have before our eyes, on a large scale, the battle of the raging elements, in such a scene we are prevented from hearing the sound of our own voice by the noise of a falling stream; or, if we are abroad in the storm of tempestuous seas, where the mountainous waves rise and fall, dash themselves furiously against steep cliffs, and toss their spray high into the air; the storm howls, the sea boils, the lightning flashes from black clouds, and the peals of thunder drown the voice of storm and sea. 

Then, in the undismayed beholder, the two-fold nature of his consciousness reaches the highest degree of distinctness. He perceives himself, on the one hand, as an individual, as the frail phenomenon of Will, which the slightest touch of these forces can utterly destroy, helpless against powerful nature, dependent, the victim of chance, a vanishing nothing in the presence of stupendous might; and, on the other hand, as the eternal, peaceful, knowing subject, the condition of the object, and, therefore, the supporter of this whole world; the terrific strife of nature only his idea; the subject itself free and apart from all desires and necessities, in the quiet comprehension of the Ideas. 

This is the complete impression of the sublime. Here he obtains a glimpse of a power beyond all comparison superior to the individual threatening it with annihilation.

(Note this is taken from a dated translation where Vorstellung is translated as "Idea" rather than more correctly as "Representation", but for the sake of simplicity I haven't corrected it - it does make it rather easier for those without a philosophy background to read. Emphases mine).

Post-script and Further Reading

Most people are happy to enjoy the beauty of Richard Wagner's music, yet too many ignore the controversies surround him. These should must be ignored or feared, as they are fascinating and will make you see Wagner in a different light. Politically Wagner, a good friend Mikhail Bakunin—the father Socialist Anarchism—remains just as contemporary and incendiary a figure as he was in his own time.