THE YEAR 1888 WAS NOT ONLY Nietzsche's most productive as an author, but also his final year of sanity. In May of that year he completed a first draft of The Case of Wagner (Der Fall Wagner), to which he subsequently added a preface, two postscripts, and an epilogue. The first edition was published by C. G. Naumann in September of that year. Later that year, responding in part to reviews of The Case of Wagner, Nietzsche quickly prepared Nietzsche contra Wagner for print. He excerpted the contents from his earlier books, lightly editing these selections and adding a very brief preface. By design, this book contains very little that is new. The preface to Nietzsche contra Wagner is dated Christmas, 1888, and the book was published in February of 1889. By that time, of course, Nietzsche had surrendered to the madness that would envelope him for the remainder of his life.

In general, we find that Nietzsche's treatment of Wagner in these two books consistently touches on the following themes: first, his aversion to Wagner was neither recent nor opportunistic;