Fragment an Sich

The Fragment an Sich (Fragment in Itself) is a piece for solo piano, written by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, dated October 1871.

I present it to you as a curiosity, because, from a musical point of view, it doesn't seem very interesting to me. In my opinion, it seems more like a study of harmonization techniques, as a student might do.

Simone Zacchini, however, has a different opinion. In his Al di là della musica. Friederich Nietzsche nelle sue composizioni musicali (Beyond Music. Friedrich Nietzsche in His Musical Compositions) (Franco Angeli Ed.), he provides a scholarly analysis and concludes that, in this piece, "it is possible to detect signs of profound harmonic reflection and a complexity of writing that has nothing to envy of other, more famous piano pieces in Romantic literature."

I kindly disagree. These words seem more appropriate to me for other, more mature pieces by Nietzsche, such as the Manfred-Meditation, from 1872, final ver. 1877, which has a more secure and traditional harmonic structure.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Fragment an Sich (1871), J. van Veen piano.
Manfred-Meditation (1877), Piano 4 Hands ·Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau · Prof.Dr. Elmar Budde.

Back