The tragedy of birth, the birth of tragedy.
A theatrical work probing into the relationship between Nietzsche and Wagner, which was like a love affair between philosophy and art. Their relationship will be deconstructed by disengaging viewpoints from the subject, and immersing in actions evolving from a multitude of interchangeable, mutually understood concepts. What was born out of the death of faith?
“I step back a hundred steps, attempting to deconstruct Nietzsche and Wagner, that is a love relation of philosophy and art. He once adored him, then despised him, as if it were idle chatter before and after meals. He still tries to sort out his own voice amidst noises, and dramatically announcing, as if the collective mythology has ended, and his own mythology has begun.”
– Danny Yung
This work is commissioned by Zuni Icosahedron in 2024 with sponsorship from CASH Music Fund.
Danny Yung
Kang Bo-neng (Taichung)Liu XiaoyiLyu Ting-an (Nanjing)Makoto Matsushima (Tokyo)
Martin ChoyChuk Yin ManRen Jia Le (Beijing)
Steve Hui (aka Nerve)
Following his 5-year explorative series of The Interrupted Dream, the Birth of Tragedy is Yung’s new work using the theme of TRAGEDY to reconstruct theatre experimentation on relationship and art. From the German philosopher who was profoundly influential to the development of 20th century philosophy, to the context of contemporary audiences; from the Wagner operas Nietzsche once so fondly embraced and later contemptuously reviled, to noise music that tries to reestablish the boundaries of music, Yung continues with his ultra-minimalist theatre design of One Table Two Chairs, creating a platform for dialogues across consciousness, generations, cultures.
“…it’s also enigmatic in the end like life – it’s beautiful.”
– Ken Ueno (Composer, Vocalist, Sound Artist, Recipient of the Rome Prize and the Berlin Prize)
“This is what’s lacking in the current consumer entertainment theatre culture, and it’s precisely what Yung is pursuing.”
– Huang Lu (Reporter, Southern Metropolis Daily)
“Every moment should be captured…I remember vividly for its strong sense of form.”
– Yan Jun (Musician, Post & Sound artist)
“Emotions hover between silence and powerful sounds, especially the soprano’s singing, making one feel Danny’s reverence for the highest realms of life.”
– May Fung (Founder of Art and Culture Outreach, Hong Kong Visual Arts Pioneer & Art Educator)
For the general public, the names of the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner or the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche are distant. However, the music and writings they left behind provide us with a rich imaginative space to understand how the Western interprets art and philosophy. As for the connections between the two figures, it is not important. I imagine that they should have been the same person. A musician should be a philosopher, and Wagner could also be Nietzsche, and perhaps the story began this way, contradictory for a century, divided into two, united as one, creating the stage we have today.
I see Wagner standing at the edge of the stage, facing the stage, witnessing what is happening on it. Suddenly, Wagner finds that all the characters on the stage are the ones he created. Some characters are close to the rhythm, some are just notes, or flashing gestures. I see Nietzsche also sitting on the edge of the world, facing the world. He examines the phenomena before him, including the phenomena on the stage, with care. I find that the world in his eyes is only his own phenomenon, perhaps commenting on the rhythm, perhaps challenging the theory, or perhaps just a void.
Later, I see Wagner trapped in the cage he created himself, with all the characters he created wandering and appearing around the cage; he is haunted and surrounded by these characters. He becomes a slave to these characters. Soon after, I see Nietzsche, who is also imprisoned in the prison of his own writings. The prison is surrounded by all the artists, philosophers, thinkers, and revolutionaries he has discussed, and he continues to muse to himself leisurely. But he knows all too well that he has long since become the ultimate slave of these characters.
The performance of the “Birth of Tragedy” is divided into two parts. The first half is a deconstruction of Wagner’s “Tristan chord”. And the second half begins with Tristan’s aria from Wagner’s opera “Tristan and Isolde”, delving into the intertwining of philosophy and music, as well as the conflict between Apollo and Dionysus on hilltop of Olympus from the Greek myth, unfolding the eternal curse that artists have towards their own predicament. This may also be akin to my obsession with the one table and two chairs.
