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Also sprach Zarathustra

 
Music Encyclopedia: Also sprach Zarathustra
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Tone poem by Richard Strauss (1896) after Nietszche's poem.


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German Literature Companion: Also sprach Zarathustra
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Also sprach Zarathustra, a long rhapsodic work, mostly in prose, by F. Nietzsche, the publication of which was spread over the years 1883-92. Of the four parts, the first and second were written respectively in Rapallo and Sils Maria in 1883 and published in the same year. Pt. III was written at Nice in 1884 and published in that year; Pt. IV was written at Mentone and Nice in the winter 1884-5 and privately printed in 1885. The complete work was published in 1892, three years after Nietzsche's mental collapse.

Also sprach Zarathustra is dedicated in a subtitle to ‘everyone and no one’ (‘Ein Buch für alle und Keinen’). Nietzsche's Zarathustra is not the Persian fire-god Zoroaster, but a cloak for Nietzsche himself in the role of prophet and seer. Nietzsche's philosophical works all have an emotional tinge, but Zarathustra discards altogether what is normally understood as philosophy, and instead expresses a ‘Weltanschauung’ in a series of declamatory and oracular sermons, most of which end with the formula ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’. Nietzsche denounces the civilization of his day, attacking those who look nostalgically to the past or believe in a future life (‘Von den Hinterweltlern’), condemning asceticism (‘Von den Verächtern des Leibes’), castigating pity (‘Von den Predigern des Todes’), and glorifying war (‘Vom Krieg und Kriegsvolk’). Pt. I closes with the summation ‘Tot sind alle Götter: nun wollen wir, daß der Übermensch lebe.’ Also sprach Zarathustra develops no coherent argument, but operates by reiteration and intensification, so that the later parts in the main repeat the contents of the first, though in different tones. Nietzsche denounces Christianity and democracy because they tend to equalize strong and weak, and rejects the virtues of tolerance, meekness, humility, and pity. He replaces these outdated ideas by the concept of the Superman who possesses the urge for domination and power and the strength to achieve his aims. It is consonant with Nietzsche's worship of strength that he is contemptuous of the emancipation of women; and Zarathustra contains the famous utterance, ‘Du gehst zu Frauen? Vergiß die Peitsche nicht!’, quoted as the words of the wise Old Woman (das alte Weiblein). At the end of Pt. II Zarathustra faces the superior strength of Death, and in the section ‘Vom Gesicht und Rätsel’ of Pt. III he finds an answer to the fear of nothingness in the idea of perpetual recurrence (ewige Wiederkehr), a cyclical view of history repeating itself ad infinitum. The third and fourth parts are not only more poetic in tone, as in ‘Die sieben Siegel (Oder das Ja- und Amenlied)’, they contain four poems, one of which occurs twice in slightly different forms. As ‘Das trunkene Lied 12’ (Pt. IV) it is called ‘Zarathustras Rundgesang’, beginning ‘O Mensch, gib Acht!’, and this was used by G. Mahler in the 4th movement of his 3rd Symphony.

Also sprach Zarathustra was much abused on moral grounds when it first appeared, but in the early years of the 20th c. it came to be accepted by the avant-garde, as well as by some lonely souls, as of virtually biblical authority. It was in this light that R. Strauss composed his tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra (1896), and that Delius was inspired to write his ‘Mass of Life’ (Eine Messe des Lebens, 1909), the text of which consists of passages from Nietzsche's book. A later age has tended to look askance at its authoritarian outlook and euphoric excess.

Wikipedia: Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss)
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Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 (Eng. Thus Spoke Zarathustra)[1] (About this sound sample (help·info)) is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical treatise of the same name. [2] The composer conducted its first performance in Frankfurt. A typical performance lasts half an hour.

The work has been part of the classical repertoire since its introduction in 1896. The introductory fanfare was proposed as a new national anthem for Germany during the Nazi regime. When asked if he would allow the use of his music for this purpose, Strauss declined, saying he could never replace Joseph Haydn's "Deutschlandlied", which remains Germany's anthem. The fanfare has become better known to the general public of recent years due to its use as the key musical motif in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as the introduction to every show performed by Elvis Presley from 1969 onwards, and first used in sports as the entrance theme of The University of South Carolina's athletic teams. It also appears on The Rugrats Movie and its score. It was also chosen by timpanist Jackie Macdonald for her debut performance with the Scottish Opera Orchestra.

Professional wrestler Ric Flair starting using the theme as his intro music sometime during the 1980's. Flair would let out his trademark yell "WHOOOOOO" after the fifth note of the theme. This practice was picked up by professional wrestling fans, and can be heard at playings of the theme even outside of professional wrestling. The theme and Ric Flair have become synonymous with each other in the professional wrestling world.

Eumir Deodato's funky version of the song won the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and went to No. 2 in the pop charts in the US, No. 3 in Canada, and No. 7 in the UK. It was subsequently used to great effect in the 1979 film Being There, starring Peter Sellers and Shirley Maclaine. It has also been covered extensively by the rock band Phish in their live performances and included in several of their live releases.

Contents

Instrumentation

The orchestra consists of the following:

Structure

The piece is divided into nine sections played with only three clear breaks. Strauss named the sections after selected chapters in the book:

  1. Einleitung (Introduction), or sunrise (this is the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme)
  2. Von den Hinterweltlern (Of the Backworldsmen)
  3. Von der großen Sehnsucht (Of the Great Longing)
  4. Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften (Of the Joys and Passions)
  5. Das Grablied (The Grave-Song)
  6. Von der Wissenschaft (Of Science)
  7. Der Genesende (The Convalescent)
  8. Das Tanzlied (The Dance Song)
  9. Nachtwandlerlied (Song of the Night Wanderer)

The piece starts with a sustained double low C , 32' pitch, on the double basses, contrabassoon and organ. This leads into the brass fanfare of the Introduction and introduces the "dawn" motif (from "Zarathustra's Prologue", the text of which is included in the printed score) that permeates the structure of the entire work: the motif includes three notes, in intervals of a fifth and octave, as C-G-C[2] (also called the Nature-motif). On its first appearance, the motif is a part of the first five notes of the natural overtone series: octave, octave and fifth, two octaves, two octaves and major third (played as part of a C major chord with the third doubled). The major third is immediately changed to a minor third, which is the first note played in the work (E flat) that is NOT part of the overtone series.[2]

"Of the Backworldsmen" begins with cellos, double-basses and organ pedal before opening up into a lyrical passage for the entire section.[2] The following two sections, "Of the Great Yearning" and "Of Joys and Passions", both introduce motifs that are more chromatic in nature.[2]

"Of Science" features an unusual fugue beginning in the double-basses and cellos, which consists of all twelve notes of the chromatic scale.[2] It is one of the very few sections in the orchestral literature where the basses must play a contra-b (lowest b on a piano).

"The Convalescent" acts as a reprise of the original motif, and climaxes with a massive chord in the entire orchestra.

"The Dance Song" features a very prominent violin solo throughout the section.

The end of the "Song of the Night Wanderer" leaves the piece half resolved, with high flutes, piccolos and violins playing a B major chord, while the lower strings pluck a C.

One of the major compositional themes of the piece is the contrast between the keys of B major, representing humanity, and C major, representing the universe. Although B and C are adjacent notes, these keys are tonally dissimilar: B major uses five sharps, while C major has none.[1]

World riddle theme

There are two viewpoints about the World riddle theme (a particular sequence of notes in the melody). Some sources denote the fifth/octave intervals (C-G-C (8va)) as the World riddle motif.[2] However, other sources refer to the 2 conflicting keys in the final section as representing the World riddle (C-G-C B-F♯-B (8va)), with the unresolved harmonic progression being an unfinished or unsolved riddle: the melody does not conclude with a clearly defined tonic note as being either C or B, hence it is unfinished.[2] The ending of the composition has been described:[2]

“ But the riddle is not solved. The tone-poem ends enigmatically in two keys, the Nature-motif plucked softly, by the basses in its original key of C—and above the woodwinds, in the key of B major. The unsolvable end of the universe: for Strauss was not pacified by Nietzsche's solution.[2] ”

Neither C major nor B major is established as the tonic at the end of the composition.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Oddly listed in the closing credits of 2001: A Space Odyssey as "Thus spoke Zarathustra" but on the official soundtrack albums as "Thus spake Zarathustra". The book by Nietzsche has been translated both ways and the title of Strauss's music is usually rendered in the original German whenever not discussed in the context of 2001. Although Britannica Online's entry lists the piece as "Thus spoke Zarathustra", music encyclopedias usually go with 'spake'. Overall, 'spake' is more common when mentioning the Strauss music and 'spoke' more common when mentioning the book by Nietzsche.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Richard Strauss - Tone-Poem, Death and Transfiguration, Opus 24" (and other works), Old And Sold - Antiques Digest, webpage: OldSold-sy49.

External links


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Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
German Literature Companion. The Oxford Companion to German Literature. Copyright © 1976, 1986, 1997, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss)".  Read more