This piece of music is a fusion of two opposing philosophical influences: Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche.
The Kant motif is structured and simple, reflecting his emphasis on rationality and moral imperatives. It has a friendly tone consistent with Kant’s belief in ethics. His motif also has a preachy element that is meant to remind us of Kant’s belief in universal laws and also that his writings are frankly quite boring.
In contrast, the Nietzsche motif is darker and wilder, reflecting his challenging and often provocative and mostly interesting ideas. The more chaotic (and randomnized) nature of his motif reflects Nietzsche’s commitment to individual will and his rejection of social norms (or even his own ideas).
However, they also had some things in common, such as a great interest in the emerging natural sciences or the fact that they struggled with the idea of a God.
Ultimately, the Kantian theme prevails and has the last word, as Nietzsche is frowned upon for influencing the difficult to understand and often misunderstood “Ubermensch” idea, whereas today we (some of us) actually try harder to act according to Kant’s theory of reason, even if a look at the news teaches us that we as humankind simply don’t succeed in doing so.
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