< World Premiere >
RICHARD STRAUSS : Also sprach Zarathustra, Op.30
Friday 27 November, 1896 – Frankfurt, Germany
Municipal Orchestra of Frankfurt-am-Main, cond. Richard Strauss
... It came as no surprise that when Richard Strauss announced the subject of his new symphonic poem, a great outcry went up. Philosophy through music? Ridiculous! Yet, unknown to Strauss or anyone else, Nietzsche had confided to his journal that the nature of Zarathustra belongs “almost among the symphonies.”
On the eve of Zarathustra’s premiere in December 1896, Strauss felt it necessary to clarify his position and wrote: “I did not intend to write philosophical music or portray Nietzsche’s great work musically. I meant rather 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 Übermensch.” – Dr. Michael Fink