What philosopher did Wagner admire?
Arthur Schopenhauer. I had to research this. The following is a brief excerpt from Wikipedia which seems to sum up the significance of Arthur Schopenhauer to Wagner. One of Schopenhauer’s doctrines was that music held a supreme role amongst the arts. He claimed that music is the direct expression of the world’s essence, which is blind, impulsive will. Wagner embraced this claim, but contradicted this by claiming that music in opera had to be subservient to the cause of drama.
