Reading Schopenhauer's concept of will through Wagner's Tristan and Isolde

Music has been an important part of human life. In some periods it was declared to be the most supreme of all arts, and in the others it was seen as a diabolical effort that led to sin. Music, which occupies an important place in human life, has been approached by philosophers in various ways. Music, which many philosophers have studied from antiquity to the 19th century, assumed an important role in the philosophy of Schopenhauer in the 19th century. Schopenhauer claimed that all beings consisted of will. The will which is independent from space and time is unconscious and blind. Through its objectification beings occur. Thus, all beings have a double aspect: will and the representation in the human mind. However, the representation of beings is constantly affected by the will. This effect consists of actions of will that are imposed by the will on the beings. Like other beings, human beings constantly ask for it. This action of the will is never satisfied. As a result, people pursue their desires and suffer. Schopenhauer offers two ways to get rid of the will. The first one is art. The arts provide a short break of the individual from the will. Music is the most supreme one among the arts. It provides us with its own copy of the will. The second way is the total rejection of the will. In Schopenhauer's philosophy, the essence of the world is pain. This thought influenced Wagner who shared the same period with Schopenhauer. Wagner, influenced by this view, formed his musical drama, Tristan and Isolde. Tristan and Isolde is the presentation of Schopenhauer's concept of the will. Wagner described Schopenhauer's pessimistic philosophy in terms of two lovers. The metaphor of day and night describes the negation of the will to life. The gloomy music of the work emphasizes the relationship between will and human.