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Richard Strauss - Also sprach Zarathustra
Sheet music for clarinet
| Alt. Title: | Thus Spoke Zarathustra |
|---|---|
| Info: | Several of Richard Strauss' compositions reveal an intention on his part to recreate the spirit of the older composer's works. However, as evidenced by his adoption of Friedrich Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra as the subject of a tonal poem, Strauss' music soon acquired a distinct identity. By this time, Nietzsche, though a former Wagner devotee, had become the most vocal and articulate critic of Wagner's philosophy and art. By aligning his artistic vision with that of Nietzsche, Strauss has permanently distanced himself from the field of the "true" Wagnerians. This piece was completed in the summer of 1896 and premiered in November of the same year. Sandwiched between Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (1894-1895) and Don Quixote (1896-1897), it was among the works that forever solidified the composer's reputation and distilled the essence of his unique orchestral language. Also sprach Zarathustra has nine sections. The introduction gained peculiar immortality with its prominent use in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 film: A Space Odyssey. |
| Opus number: | Op.30; TrV 176 |
| Date: | 1896 |
| Artist: | Richard Strauss |
| Born: | June 11, 1864, Munich, Germany |
| Died: | September 8, 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany |
| The artist: | Although Richard Strauss' long career spanned one of the most chaotic periods in the world's political, social and cultural history, the composer maintained his quintessentially romantic aesthetic even in the age of television and jet engines. Born in Munich in 1864, Strauss was the son of Franz Joseph Strauss, the principal horn player of the Munich Court Orchestra. Strauss demonstrated musical aptitude from an early age, and extensive training in piano, violin, theory, harmony, and orchestration equipped him to produce music of extraordinary polish and maturity as he reached adulthood. His main teachers were his father, who was a conservative musical, and Ludwig Thuille, composer at the Munich School and a friend of the family. Strauss' Serenade by 13 Winds, op. 7 (1881), written when he was 17, led conductor Hans von Bülow to call him "by far the most notable personality since Brahms". Bülow was able to give Strauss his first commission and an assistant conductor position. Through new friendships, Strauss learned to admire the writings of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and the music of Wagner and Liszt. He embarked on a long career of conducting and writing, which took him across Europe and the US. From the beginning of Strauss' career, it was evident that the orchestra was his natural medium. He embarked on a series of works that represent one of the crucial phases of his career and a musical body of central importance in the late German Romantic repertoire. With the arrival of the 20th century, Strauss' interest turned more intensely to opera, resulting in a set of unforgettable works that have long been part of the repertoire: Salomé (1903-1905), Elektra (1906-1908), and Der Rosenkavalier (1909-1910) are just a few of his best-known stage efforts. In 1919 Strauss became co-director of the Vienna Staatsoper. When the political situation in Europe turned malign in the 1930s, profound political naivete led to Strauss' confused involvement in the Nazi propaganda machine, and the composer ended up alienating both the Nazis and his opponents. With the end of World War II, he was able to summarize his professional life, although it was a mere echo of his former fame. He began to have serious health problems, his financial situation was compromised and the monuments that represented to him great German art - Goethe's house in Weimar; the opera houses of Dresden, Munich, and Vienna - were destroyed. |
| Instrument: | Clarinet |
| Key: | D major |
| Range: | D4 - D6 |
| Time signature: | 4/4 |
| Tempo: | 55 BPM |
| Duration: | 1:38 |
| Pages: | 1 |
| Difficulty: | Easy |
| Style: | Classical |
