- Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a tone poem written in 1896 that Strauss “freely” based the tone poem on the philosophical novel by Nietzsche.1
- When describing the work, Strauss wrote,
- “I did not intend to write philosophical music or portray Nietzsche’s great work musically. I meant rather to convey in music an idea of the evolution of the human race from its origin, through the various phases of development, religious as well as scientific, up to Nietzsche’s idea of the Übermensch.”
- The piece’s opening section, “Sunrise,” is most recognizable for listeners, inspired by the opening lines of Nietzsche’s novel, when Zarathustra decided to leave his secluded home of 10 years in the mountains and descend into the world of mankind at sunrise.
- The work has also become inextricably linked with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Subsequent sections include the following titles:
- “On the Afterworldly”
- “On the Great Longing”
- “Of Pleasures and Passions”
- “The Tomb Song”
- “On Science”
- “The Convalescent”
- “The Dance-Song”
- “Night Wanderer’s Song”
- Fun fact: Nietzsche’s novel also served as the basis for songs by Schoenberg, Delius, Medtner, and Taneyev, as well as larger works by Mahler, Delius, and many others.2
Sources
- “Also sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 (Strauss, Richard),” IMSLP, accessed March 24, 2025, https://imslp.org/wiki/Also_sprach_Zarathustra,_Op.30_(Strauss,_Richard).
- Steven Ledbetter, “Also sprach Zarathustra, Tone poem for large orchestra, free after Nietzsche, Opus 30,” Boston Symphony Orchestra, accessed March 24, 2025, https://www.bso.org/works/strauss-also-sprach-zarathustra.
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