Product Description

Richard Strauss’s tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra is one of his most controversial works. Its greatest popularity has been achieved when its connection with Nietzsche’s book of the same name has seemed less relevant than its associations with Kubrick’s film 2001 - A Space Odyssey. Although its early critical reception was mixed, it is nowadays one of the staples of the virtuoso orchestra, and a standard demonstration piece for innovations in recording technique. Its opening bars have become a kind of icon independent of the rest of the work. This guide examines the intellectual background of the work and considers ways in which it has been received by composers and writers, notably Romain Rolland and Bartok. It also discusses the musical background of Liszt and Wagner which gave rise to the genre, ‘tone poem’, and provides an analysis of several aspects of Strauss’s musical language.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #953558 in Books
• Published on: 1993-04-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 140 pages

Customer Reviews

Also Sprach Williamson
This is a short but detailed study of Richard Strauss's orchestral tone poem `Also Sprach Zarathustra', which work was based on the book of the same name by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The author examines the relationship between composer and philosopher, between composition and text, as well as exploring the supposed distinctions between Liszt's `symphonic' poems and Strauss's `tone' poems.

On the matter of critical reception, he points out "that the debate about Zarathustra's characteristics and merits has been carried on to a large extent in literary terms, with criticism of musical aspects added in parentheses." Initial reaction was hostile, but was then followed by re-appraisal, until the inclusion of its opening in Kubrick's film `2001: A Space Odyssey' set the seal for greater acceptance. By and large, this is probably due to time having massaged the memory of the Nietzschean involvement. Whereas Strauss's `Don Juan' and `Don Quixote' maintain recognisable literary links, who - outside of philosophy departments - now reads or remembers Nietzsche?

The author follows through Strauss's attempt to match the music to the text, but it is clear that the narrative of the former is not literally enmeshed with the latter, but is rather spiritually linked. He analyses the structure of the work in three different ways: thematically, symphonically, and variationally. Much of the language is technical. He ends by looking at how Strauss's relationship to Nietzsche's thoughts continued long after `Also Sprach Zarathustra', in its links for example with his Alpensinfonie. But now, the author concludes, the worth of both of these orchestral masterpieces resides solely as "a showpiece for virtuous orchestras in digital sound."

There is one moment of mirth, when the author reports overhearing the opening to `Also Sprach Zarathustra' by a Caribbean steel band in Liverpool and someone in the audience saying, "What would Strauss have said if he had head his 2001 performed like this?"

The book comes with endnotes, a bibliography and an index. Be warned, it is not written for the layman, but for those who know the score well, know their Nietzsche, and have a rounded knowledge of late nineteenth-century cultural criticism.