, Op. 30 (, Thus Spoke Zarathustra or Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a tone poem by German composer Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's 1883–1885 philosophical work of the same name. Strauss conducted its first performance on 27 November 1896 in Frankfurt. A typical performance lasts roughly 33 minutes.

The initial fanfare – titled "Sunrise" in the composer's programme notes – became well known after its use in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Eumir Deodato's jazz-funk hit version won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Instrumentation

The work is orchestrated for piccolo, 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 3 oboes, English horn, clarinet in E, 2 clarinets in B, bass clarinet in B, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns in F and E, 4 trumpets in C and E, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani,<!--2 PAUKEN = 2 DRUMS, NOT 2 PLAYERS--> bass drum, cymbals, triangle, glockenspiel, bell on low E, organ, and strings: 2 harps, violins I, II (16 each), violas (12), cellos (12), and double basses (8) (with low B string).

Structure

The piece is divided into nine sections played with only three definite pauses. Strauss named the sections after selected chapters of Friedrich Nietzsche's novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra:

  1. "" (Sunrise)
  2. "" (Of the Backworldsmen)
  3. "" (Of the Great Longing)
  4. "" (Of Joys and Passions)
  5. "" (The Song of the Grave)
  6. "" (Of Science and Learning)
  7. "" (The Convalescent)
  8. "" (The Dance Song)
  9. "" (Song of the Night Wanderer)

These selected chapters from Nietzsche's novel highlight major moments of the character Zarathustra's philosophical journey in the novel. The general storylines and ideas in these chapters were the inspiration used to build the tone poem's structure.

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right;"

|<score sound=1> \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 c2 g' | c } </score>

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|The "dawn" motif

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The piece starts with a sustained double low C on the double basses, contrabassoon and church organ. This transforms into the brass fanfare of the Introduction and introduces the "dawn" motif (from "Zarathustra's Prologue", the text of which is included in the printed score) that is common throughout the work; the motif includes three notes, in intervals of a fifth and octave, as C–G–C

World riddle theme

There are two opinions about the world riddle theme. One is that the fifth/octave intervals (C–G–C<sup></sup>) constitute the World riddle motif.

The first recording was made in 1924 with Max von Schilling and the Staatskapelle Berlin and the first electrically recorded version was made in 1935 with Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. 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 recording was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry 2011 list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings. Thus Spake Zarathustra by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel reached No. 33 in the UK chart in 1969. The recording of the opening fanfare used for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was a 1959 recording performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

  • Elvis Presley used the opening theme as entrance music during live performances from 1971-1977. Notable examples include the 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert, which was broadcast via satellite to a global audience and sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden.
  • In 1979 film Moonraker the hunt trumpet plays the first notes of the theme in the hunting scene at Hugo Drax's mansion.
  • The BBC used the theme in its television coverage of the Apollo space missions.
  • Brazilian musician Eumir Deodato's jazz-funk styled arrangement of the opening fanfare Sunrise theme, titled "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)", reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 U.S. popular music sales charts in 1973, No. 3 in Canada, and No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart. Deodato's version won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
  • Retired professional wrestler and pop culture personality Ric Flair used several versions of the opening fanfare as his entrance theme for the majority of his 50-year in-ring career.
  • As of January 10, 2026, the American band Phish has performed this theme 277 times since its live debut July 16, 1993, at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, including 17 times at the New York City arena Madison Square Garden.
  • Ray Conniff recorded a version entitled Bah Bah Conniff Sprach (Zarathustra) for his 1973 album You Are the Sunshine of My Life.
  • American rock band Blink-182 has long used the theme as their concert opener.
  • The song is an integral part of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks football team's pregame field entrance.
  • It was used during the climactic scene of the animated film WALL-E (2008), when the Captain of the Axiom finally gets his ability to walk again and powers down the autopilot.
  • It has been used at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2010 and more recently at the start of any race of FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series.
  • It was parodied in Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Paper Mario: Color Splash, both when the fan is used in battle. It was also used again in Paper Mario: The Origami King when the fan rose up in the background after Mario completes a puzzle in Bonehead Island.
  • It was used twice in Greta Gerwig's 2023 film Barbie, first in an opening scene that parodies "The Dawn of Man" sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and again as part of the score cue "Ken Makes a Discovery."
  • The "Sunrise" portion was cited by film editor Myron Kerstein as the inspiration for the final score extension that concludes "Defying Gravity," the cliffhanger finale of Wicked (2024), the first of Universal Pictures' two-part film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name. After Elphaba's battle cry, which usually ends the song, the score extension plays the "Unlimited" motif (based on the first four notes of "Over the Rainbow") in Strauss' triumphant style, followed by a powerful final note utilizing the timpani hits.
  • Northern Irish rock band Ash covered the "Sunrise" portion on their 2025 album Ad Astra.
  • Russian intellectual show What? Where? When? starts with the "Sunrise" portion when participant players are introduced at the start of the game as well as viewers whose letters were chosen to participate in the game [https://youtube.com/watch?v=cCKrypYXUXk].

Arrangements

In 2023, Edition Peters issued a chamber ensemble (16 or 18 musicians) adaptation of Also sprach Zarathustra, arranged by Germán García Vargas.

References

  • , performed by University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Schubert
  • Also sprach Zarathustra score on Musopen
  • "Also Zarathustra: Decoding Strauss' Tone Poem" by Marin Alsop on NPR (January 14, 2012)