


The piece starts with a sustained double low C on the double basses, contrabassoon and church organ. The work is orchestrated for 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, and strings: 2 harps, violins I, II (16 each), violas (12), cellos (12), and double basses (8) (with low B string). 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.

A typical performance lasts thirty-three minutes. The composer conducted its first performance on 27 November 1896 in Frankfurt. 30 ( German: ( listen), Thus Spoke Zarathustra or Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Richard Strauss, 1894Īlso sprach Zarathustra, Op. For other uses, see Also sprach Zarathustra (disambiguation). For the original book by Nietzsche after which this piece is named, see Thus Spoke Zarathustra. This article is about the musical work by Strauss.
