NRR Project: Fritz Reiner conducts 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' (1953)

 

NRR Project: “Also Sprach Zarathustra”

Composed by Richard Strauss

Performed by the Chicago Symphony, conducted by Fritz Reiner

Released 1953

33 min.

Another piece that I have little to add about. Jonathan Horrocks’ essay on it, which you can read here, is pretty comprehensive about Reiner and the Chicago Symphony.

It’s an orchestral showpiece, written by composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949) in 1896. It is based on one of the philosophical works of Friederich Nietzsche, who published it in 1885. Nietzsche famously declared that “God is dead.” He decided that normal human spiritual values and organized religion were no longer valid and that they must be supplanted by “masters,” motivated by the “will to power,” who would craft their own morality in response to their personal needs and visions, thereby creating an Ubermensch, a superman who represents the next step in the volution of humanity. With me so far? It was this kind of intellectual exceptionalism that later spawned philosophies such as Hitler’s.

Strauss’s composition takes certain chapters from the book and sets them to music – ecstatic, blowsy music that sweeps the listener off their feet. They are as follows: 

1. "Sonnenaufgang" (Sunrise)
2. "Von den Hinterweltlern" (Of the Backworldsmen)^[4]
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)

Strauss was a phenomenal composer, and this is one of a slew of tone poems that he wrote at the end of the 19^th century. A noted conductor, he moved on to crafting operas that became famous worldwide. He later endured an uncomfortable relationship with the Nazis, playing along with them in order to safeguard his Jewish daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Cleared of collaboration after the war, he did not long survive it.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Damnation of Faust.