What is familiar, Hegel says, is so because it is familiar, not because it is recognized. How much this conclusion hits the mark is shown by Nietzsche’s critique of Wagner. It counts among the inevitable fare of intellectually pretentious small talk, it is a favorite topic on advanced degree examinations, and every year it generates a sizable amount of secondary literature. But most of the works on the topic do not create the impression that they are treating a philosophical subject. Even within serious Nietzsche scholarship, the case of Wagner is usually handled under the rubric of personal relations or as a mere developmental stage in Nietzsche’s thinking – or simply ignored.