The Space Odyssey Theme (Strauss)

Title: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30

Composer: Richard Strauss

Composed in 1896

First premiered on 27 November 1896 in Frankfurt

Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 (Thus Spoke Zarathustra or Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical novel of the same name. The work has been part of the classical repertoire since its first performance in 1896. The initial fanfare – entitled "Sunrise" in the composer's program notes – became particularly well-known after its use in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In 1944, Strauss conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in an experimental high fidelity recording of the piece, made on a German Magnetophon tape recorder. This was later released on LP by Vanguard Records and on CD by various labels. Strauss's friend and colleague, Fritz Reiner, made the first stereophonic recording of the music with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in March 1954 for RCA Victor. In 2012, this album was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings. The recording of the opening fanfare used for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was performed by Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Elvis Presley used the opening fanfare as the opening piece in his concerts between 1971 and his death in 1977, and as the introduction to several of his live albums, including Elvis: As Recorded At Madison Square Garden (1972), Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite (1973), and Elvis in Concert (1977). Eumir Deodato's funk-influenced arrangement of the opening fanfare Sunrise theme reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 U.S. popular music sales charts in 1973, and #7 on the UK Singles Chart. His version was titled "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)", and won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Music

Instrumental

• piccolo
• 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo)
• 3 oboes
• English horn
• clarinet in E-flat
• 2 clarinets in B-flat
• bass clarinet in B-flat
• 3 bassoons
• contrabassoon
• 6 horns in F and E
• 4 trumpets in C and E
• 3 trombones
• 2 tubas
• timpani
• bass drum
• cymbals
• triangle
• glockenspiel
• bell on low E
• organ
• 2 harps
• I & II violins (16 each)
• violas (12)
• cellos (12)
• double basses (8) (with low C string)

Form / Structure

The piece is divided into nine sections played with only three definite pauses. Strauss named the sections after selected chapters of the book:

1. Einleitung, oder Sonnenaufgang (Introduction, or Sunrise)
2. Von den Hinterweltlern (Of Those in Backwaters)
3. Von der großen Sehnsucht (Of the Great Longing)
4. Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften (Of Joys and Passions)
5. Das Grablied (The Song of the Grave)
6. Von der Wissenschaft (Of Science and Learning)
7. Der Genesende (The Convalescent)
8. Das Tanzlied (The Dance Song)
9. Nachtwandlerlied (Song of the Night Wanderer)

First movement: Sunrise. Man feels the power of God. Andante religioso. But man still longs. He plunges into passion (second movement) and finds no peace. He turns toward science, and tries in vain to solve life’s problems in a fugue (third movement). The agreeable dance tunes sound and he becomes an individual. His soul soars upward while the world sinks far below him.

But that was neither his first (he had earlier leaked hints of a somewhat different program to the German press) nor last word on the subject. Strauss decided finally to put the matter to rest by prefacing the published score with the words of Nietzsche’s opening paragraphs, the “Ode to the Sun,” concluding in the exhortation to the creative spirit: “For too long we have dreamt music, now let us awake. We were nightwalkers. Let us now be daywalkers.” (Nietzsche, it might be remembered, was a composer himself.) The titles of the eight sections that follow the brass-percussion-organ depiction of the sunrise – the movie music – were the only other programmatic clues left by the composer.

The titles of the eight sections, which are played without pause, are “Of the Forest-dwellers”; “Of the Great Yearning”; “Of Joys and Passions”; “Dirge”; “Of Learning” – wherein the opening, three-note C-major theme of the “Sunrise,” by now associated with Zarathustra himself, evolves into a spectacular fugue. In the subsequent “The Convalescent” the preceding fugal subject reaches a peak of frenzied complexity before winding down to a gentle cello solo. With “The Dance Song,” Nietzsche’s ferocious philosopher, Zarathustra, breaks into a waltz. Some pro-Strauss critics have cited this as the composer’s glorification of the Life Force, while detractors point to it as an example of his wretched taste. In all likelihood, it is at once indicative of Richard Strauss’ affection for another (unrelated) Strauss, the Waltz King himself, and his (Richard’s) sense of humour, which included not taking himself nearly as seriously as his listeners did. The climax of the waltz melts into the finale, “The Night Wanderer’s Song,” announced by a bell tolling midnight, and concluding peacefully, with high woodwinds repeating, ever more softly, a B-major chord, while at the bottom of the orchestra the basses play the low C with which Also sprach Zarathustra began.

Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra video:

Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra (Full Score) pdf file:
http://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/c/ce/IMSLP19119-PMLP12187-Strauss_-_Also_sprach_Zarathustra__orch._score_.pdf