Also sprach Zarathustra

Though Nietzsches 1885 book has served as inspiration for a number of composers almost since its publication in 1892, Richard Strauss 1896 tone poem remains the best known today - thanks in no small part to the Kubricks incorporating the first section into the soundtrack for his 1968 film 2001, a Space Odyssey. The composer himself stated that Nietzsches work served more as a starting point for his own thoughts instead of it being a musical interpretation of Nietzsches writing. Strauss thought of his work as a musical portrayal of human evolution from the beginning through the ـbermensch described in the book.

Strauss thirty-minute work is divided into nine sections named after chapters in the Nietzsche original ordered differently and played with only three short pauses. The first performance was given in Frankfurt on November 27, 1896 with the composer conducting a large orchestra. The present study score is of the recent edition prepared by Clinton F. Nieweg with the assistance of Stuart S. Serio which was originally issued in 2015 by the now-defunct American publisher E. F. Kalmus in large score format. As the sole authorized publisher of the outstanding Nieweg Critical Performance Editions, Serenissima is proud to make this superb score available in a convenient reduced-size format to accompany the large score and orchestra parts already available.