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Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra” is a tone poem in ten sections inspired by writings of Nietzsche. ... Opponents of Strauss’s programme questioned his morality in choosing a subject such as Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, which states that God is dead, and urges man to revaluate his values.
Nietzsche influenced Strauss by helping to “affirm his agnosticism as well as his lifelong belief in the individual’s power to change the world around him, controlling his destiny without promise of a hereafter. ” Nietzsche’s works also helped in Strauss’s refutation of Christianity. “Strauss’s objection was to any religion which relieved its followers of responsibility for their actions by means of confession. ” These ideas helped shape the tone poem, but they are not the subjects upon which Strauss based his work. Strauss stated that his intention was “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 Superman. ... ” He reduced the task to three main lines of attack: ”the chapter headings [from Nietzsche’s Also Sprach Zarathustra], of which he selected eight as being particularly suggestive to his musical sensibilities; the conflict between the unyielding figure of ‘nature’ and the Spirit of Man with its sense of purpose and achievement; and finally the evolution of Man himself from a primitive being towards the Superman through the symbolical figure of Zarathustra. ”
Zarathustra’s prologue, from Nietzsche’s work, is quoted in the preface to the score. ... Thus, Strauss begins the music with the beauty and simplicity of a sunrise. ... From a deep C, Strauss builds the simple Nature motive, or Naturtheme, to G and finally to C, an octave above the initial C. ... From the hopeless longing of a solo viola, Strauss progresses towards Man’s desire to free himself from religious superstition and ignorance.
Approximate Word count = 1489
Approximate Pages = 6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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