Obsolete Capitalism Sound System
Chaos Sive Natura
Rattling Self-Propeller
Nietzsche does not simply offer the description of the role of coercion of the rhythm. Even before the Pythagoreans built the philosophical theory about the educational contrivance of poetry, the German philosopher writes that “one acknowledged music to have the power to discharge the emotions, to cleanse the soul, to soothe the «ferocia animi» - and indeed precisely through its rhythmic quality. When one had lost the proper tension and harmony of the soul, one had to dance to the beat of the singer”
Such a therapeutic power of the music was possible when “one began by driving the giddiness and exuberance of their passions to their peak, that is, one drove the madman wild, made the vindictive person drunk with lust for revenge. All orgiastic cults wanted to discharge the ferocia of some deity all at once and turn it into an orgy so that the deity would feel freer and calmer afterwards and leave man in peace.”
Music is a form of taming and pacification both in cult and profane field, exerting a «magic» force on those who are tired from work. Nietzsche brings the examples of the trireme in 6th and 5th b.c. century, rowing people who followed the rhythm given by the figure of the aulete, a flute player on the Attic war ships. The philosopher says that for each finished action a good reason to sing is always present because "... whenever one acts, one has an occasion to sing - every action is tied to the assistance of spirits: incantation and conjuration seem to be the primordial form of poetry.” When we consider, Nietzsche explains, that the invention of the hexameter has been attributed to the Delphi Oracle tradition, we can easily understand that the intention was to «conquer» the specific God, in this case Apollo: "The way the formula is pronounced, with literal and rhythmic precision, is how it binds the future; the formula, however, is the invention of Apollo, who as god of rhythm can also bind the goddesses of fate.”
