In revolt against Christianism, Nietzsche was the son of a Lutherian minister, who had studied classical philology at the univesities of Bonn and Leipzig.

Nietzsche, for a time, was a close friend of Richard Wagner, and his first book, Die Geburt Der Tragodie Aus Dem Geist Der Musik (The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music) deals partly with his music.

Due to syphilis, in his last years Nietzsche suffered from mental disease and breakdowns. In Turin, in1889, one year before his death, he collapsed in the street.