Also sprach Zarathustra

Lore & Background

Composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical novel, this tone poem by Richard Strauss was first conducted by the composer himself in Frankfurt on 27 November 1896. The work is orchestrated for a large ensemble including piccolo, three flutes, three oboes, English horn, clarinets in E and B-flat, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, six horns, four trumpets, three trombones, two tubas, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, glockenspiel, a bell on low E, organ, two harps, and a full string section with double basses capable of a low B. A typical performance lasts about 33 minutes. The piece is structured into nine continuous sections, named after chapters from Nietzsche’s book, with only three definite pauses. It opens with a sustained low C from double basses, contrabassoon, and organ, which builds into a brass fanfare introducing the “dawn” motif—three notes in intervals of a fifth and octave (C–G–C), known as the Nature-motif. This motif is derived from the natural overtone series, though the first note outside that series (an E) immediately follows. A central compositional theme is the contrast between B major, representing humanity, and C major, representing the universe; these adjacent keys are tonally dissimilar, with B major using five sharps and C major none. The piece ends unresolved, with high flutes, piccolos, and violins playing a B major chord while lower strings pluck a C, leaving neither key established as the tonic. The initial fanfare gained widespread fame after its use in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film *2001: A Space Odyssey*, and a jazz-funk adaptation by Eumir Deodato won the 1974 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Reader's Guide

The piece is a tone poem for large orchestra, including organ, two harps, and a bell on low E, typically lasting about 33 minutes. It is divided into nine continuous sections named after chapters of Nietzsche’s novel, tracing Zarathustra’s philosophical journey. The famous opening, titled "Sunrise" in the composer’s programme notes, begins with a sustained low C from basses, contrabassoon, and organ before the brass fanfare introduces a three-note "dawn" motif (C–G–C), derived from the natural overtone series. This motif, often called the Nature-motif, immediately shifts from a major to a minor third, the first note outside the overtone series. A central compositional device is the contrast between B major (representing humanity) and C major (representing the universe), keys that are tonally distant. The work’s unresolved ending—a B major chord in high woodwinds and strings against a plucked C in lower strings—embodies the "world riddle," with neither key established as tonic. Notable structural features include a fugue in "Of Science and Learning" that uses all twelve chromatic notes, and a passage requiring double basses to play a contra B, rare in orchestral literature. The piece became widely known after its use in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film *2001: A Space Odyssey*, and a jazz-funk adaptation by Eumir Deodato won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1974.

Did You Know?

• The piece ends with high flutes, piccolos and violins playing a B major chord while lower strings pluck a C, leaving the tonality unresolved.

A Pillar of the Tone Poem Tradition

Strauss built his reputation as a composer largely through the tone poem, a genre in which he became one of the defining voices of the late Romantic and early Modern era. Also sprach Zarathustra occupies a distinguished position within this body of work. It arrived after Don Juan, which was the first of his tone poems to achieve wide acclaim, and it stands alongside a constellation of equally celebrated pieces: Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben, Symphonia Domestica, and An Alpine Symphony. Together these works form a sequence that traces the evolution of his orchestral imagination, from the bold narrative sweep of Don Juan to the introspective and programmatic breadth of his later scores. As a composer known for his tone poems and operas, Strauss placed these orchestral narratives at the center of his artistic identity, and the grouping of Also sprach Zarathustra among them underscores its role as one of the works that cemented his standing in the concert hall.

The Composer Behind the Score

Also sprach Zarathustra is inseparable from the figure of its creator: Richard Georg Strauss, born in Munich in 1864 into a household where music was the daily language. His father Franz was the principal horn player at the Court Opera and a professor at the Königliche Musikschule, and the young Richard began composing at the age of six after starting piano lessons at four. By the time he graduated from the Ludwigsgymnasium in 1882, he had already absorbed the styles of Schumann and Mendelssohn through his father's guidance, while Wagner's operas, first heard in 1874, were beginning to reshape his musical vocabulary in ways his conservative father initially resisted. This layered education, combining classical discipline with the sweeping dramatic ambition of Wagner, produced a composer who could operate at the highest level of both the concert hall and the opera stage. As a leading figure bridging the late Romantic and early Modern eras, Strauss carried that dual sensibility into every tone poem he wrote, and Zarathustra reflects the full weight of that training.

Conductor, Celebrity, and the Life Beyond the Podium

Strauss was not merely a composer who occasionally led an orchestra; he was a prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas whose interpretations of Liszt, Mozart, and Wagner earned him quasi-celebrity status. His conducting path began in 1883 as assistant to Hans von Bülow with the Meiningen Court Orchestra, and it carried him through the Bavarian State Opera, the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar from 1889 to 1894, a 1894 debut at the Bayreuth Festival, the Berlin State Opera, and the Vienna State Opera. In 1920 he co-founded the Salzburg Festival, extending his influence over the European musical landscape for decades. This dual identity, as the man writing the scores and the man bringing them to life, meant that works like Also sprach Zarathustra were not only composed but actively shaped, rehearsed, and championed by their author. The quasi-celebrity he enjoyed as his compositions became standards of orchestral repertoire made him one of the most recognizable musical figures of his century.

A Standard of the Orchestral Repertoire

The fact that Also sprach Zarathustra endures as a touchstone of the orchestral canon is no accident. Strauss's compositions, including this tone poem, became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire, a status that elevated him to quasi-celebrity across Western Europe and the Americas. His tone poems, Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben, Symphonia Domestica, An Alpine Symphony, and Zarathustra among them, formed a body of work so central to the concert tradition that orchestras worldwide built their seasons around them. Beyond the tone poems, his broader output, which included two symphonies, lieder such as the Four Last Songs, the Violin Concerto in D minor, the Horn Concertos, the Oboe Concerto, and Metamorphosen, further cemented his place in the repertoire. The piece's position within this constellation of orchestral masterworks, all composed by a single figure who also conducted with distinction, speaks to the extraordinary breadth of his contribution to Western classical music.

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