The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music is an 1872 work of dramatic theory by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It was reissued in 1886 as The Birth of Tragedy, Or: Hellenism and Pessimism and #40;German: Die Geburt der Tragödie, Oder: Griechentum und Pessimismus and #41;. The later edition contained a prefatory essay, and quot;An Attempt at Self-Criticism and quot;, wherein Nietzsche commented on this earliest book. The Birth of Tragedy was angrily criticized by many respected professional scholars of Greek literature. Particularly vehement was philologist Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, who denounced Nietzsche and #39;s work as slipshod and misleading. Prompted by Nietzsche, Erwin Rohde—a friend who had written a favorable review that sparked the first derogatory debate over the book—responded by exposing Wilamowitz-Moellendorf and #39;s inaccurate citations of Nietzsche and #39;s work. Richard Wagner also issued a response to Wilamowitz-Moellendorf and #39;s critique, but his action only served to characterize Nietzsche as the composer and #39;s lackey.