Today in Music (1896): Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra premiered

Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zoroaster), tone poem for orchestra, Op. 30 (TrV 176) Richard Strauss (composer)

Composed: 1896 Premiered: November 27, 1896 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical

Parts/Movemets: Einleitung (Introduction) Von den Hinterweltlern (Of the Backworldsmen) Von der großen Sehnsucht (Of the Great Longing) Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften (Of Joys and Passions) Das Grablied (The Song of the Grave) Von der Wissenschaft (Of Science and Learning) Der Genesende (The Convalescent) Das Tanzlied (The Dance-Song) Nachtwandlerlied (Song of the Night Wanderer) Average Duration: 33:30

Rating: 4.303 out of 5.00 (average of 4 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Strauss, like many of his contemporaries, was enthralled with Richard Wagner. Many of his works exhibit “an intent on Strauss’ part to re-create the spirit of the older composer’s works.” AMG However, in adapting Friedrich Nietzsche’s tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra to music, “Strauss’ music soon took on a distinct identity.” AMG A former Wagner devotee, Nietzsche had become his most vocal critic. By aligning with Nietzsche, “Strauss forever removed himself from the camp of ‘true’ Wagnerians.” AMG “Like most of Strauss’ tone poems, Also sprach Zarathustra employs massive instrumental forces; however, it provides a contrast to Strauss’ more strongly narrative works in its deployment of the orchestra in a more subtle and deft manner. The relative concision of its musical material suggests the composer’s attempt to mirror the nature and character of his literary source.” AMG He completed it “in the summer of 1896 and premiered in November of the same year…Iit was among the works that forever solidified the composer’s reputation and distilled the essence of his singular orchestral language.” AMG The first of nine sections kicks off with an introduction which has been immortalized in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Three distinctive episodes follow, each exploring an element of Nietzsche’s text, “from Von den Hinterweltlern (From the Back-world People) to an expression of intense yearning (Von der großen Sehnsucht) and a portrayal of joy and passion (Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften). At the center of the work is Das Grablied (Song of the Grave), which sets the stage for the clever and ironic Von der Wissenschaft, in which a truncated fugue gently pokes fun at science by – perhaps prophetically – including all twelve chromatic pitches in its subject. Der Genesende (The Convalescent) slowly regains its strength, bursting forth into the energetic Das Tanzlied (Dance-Song), led by a solo fiddle.” AMG “The final section, Nachtwandlerlied (Song of the Night Wanderer), makes subtle use of tonal and thematic cues (most notably, a return to the tonality of the opening section) to suggest that the journey of the unnamed Night Wanderer is cyclic – eternally returning to its beginning.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Richard Strauss AMG All Music Guide Last updated 11/25/2023.

 

Today in Music (1896): Puccini's La Bohème premiered

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La Bohème (The Bohemian Life) Giacomo Puccini (composer)

Composed: 1896 First Performed: February 1, 1896 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > opera

Parts/Movements: Act I: No. 1a, "Questo Mar Rosso" No. 1b, "Nei cieli bigi" (Rudolph) No. 1c, "Pensier profondo! Giusto color!" No. 1d, "Legna! Sigari! Bordo!" No. 1e, "Si pou? Chi e la? Benoit!" No. 1f, "Io resto per terminar l'articolo" No. 1g, "Non sono in vena. Chi e la?" No. 1h, "Si sente meglio? Si. Qui ce tanto freddo" No. 2, "Che gelida manina" No. 3, "Si. Mi chiamano Mimi" No. 4, "O soave fanciulla" Act II: No. 5, "Aranci, datteri!" No. 6a, "Chi guardi?" No. 6b, "Eccoci qui!" No. 7a, "Come un facchino" No. 7b, "Quando me'n vo' soletta la via" (Musetta's Waltz Song) Act III: No. 8, "Ohe, la, le guardie" No. 9, "Mimi?!... Speravo di trovarvi" No. 10a, "Marcello... Finalmente" No. 10b, "Mimi e una civetta" No. 11, "Donde lieta usci" (Mimi's Farewell) No. 12, "Addio dolce svegliare" Act IV: No. 13a, "In un coupe?" No. 13b, "O Mimi, tu piu non torni" No. 14, "Che ora sia?" No. 15, "Musetta!... C'e Mimi" No. 16, "Vecchia zimarra" (Coat Song) No. 17a, "Sono andati?" No. 17b, "Torno al nido" No. 17c, "Oh Dio! Mimi!" Average Duration: 104:00

Rating: 4.411 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: “Opera began in the 1600s as an attempt to revive Greek tragedy, and it’s been a tug-of-war between words and music ever since. The opera world has suffered through works at both extremes – recklessly wordy narratives in search of musical anchor and gorgeous music lacking plot lines.” TM Giacomo Puccini “achieved a very happy medium” TM with La Bohème. His “musical decisions were informed by the necessities of the drama” TM and he offers “genuinely memorable melodies, songs that would be deeply affecting independent of any narrative.” TM > The opera was inspired by the “nineteenth century cultural fad of Bohemianism” AM and the “theme of Parisian starving artists.” AM In 1893, Puccini was struck with the idea of composing an opera based on Henri Murger's novel Scènes de la vie de bohème. AM The opera “begins on Christmas Eve in Paris’s Latin Quarter. The year is 1830, and the painter Marcello…and his roommate, the poet Rodolfo…are shivering because there’s no fuel to heat the fire.” TM “Rodolfo finds himself alone with neighbor Mimi, who’s looking for a light for her candle. By the end of Act 1…they’ve fallen in love.” TM As the opera progresses, he decides he’s no longer interested in her and in the fourth act the dying Mimi “hallucinates a glimpse into the hereafter.” TM “Although contemporary critics received Puccini’s La Bohème coolly after its premiere…it was a hit with the public, and has endured as a favorite in the operatic repertoire.” AM “Some of Puccini’s loveliest lyrical moments grace La Bohème. Rodolfo’s first aria Che gelida manina in Act One, introduces a primarily conjunct melody of touching simplicity, conveying the innocence of pure love. This melody returns at the end of Act One, as Mimì and Rodolfo exit, and again, in Act Four as Mimì, on her deathbed, reminisces with Rodolfo on their first encounter.” AM “This technique of associating music with characters incorporates timbral as well as thematic elements.” AM “The magical, sustained string instrumentation…that announces Mimì’s entrance in Act One is also the principal color in the orchestral accompaniment of her signature aria. Classic Puccinian orchestration and harmonic language mark the depiction of daybreak that opens Act Three. Here, flutes in parallel fifths peck out a modal melody, punctuated at phrase ends by subtle, sustained upper strings over tremolo cellos. A harp solo adds a delicate brilliance to the sparse orchestral palette and foreshadows the hazy timbre of the off-stage women's chorus.” AM “Puccini’s expressive use of the orchestra is linked most intimately with the drama in Act Four. After Schaunard tells Marcello of Mimì’s death, the orchestra drops out, leaving only a sustained A in the double bass to convey a sense of dramatic expectation and musical continuity. Even the soloists leave their songful world for one of spoken declamation until the orchestra explodes with C sharp minor triads in the brass, reflecting Rodolfo’s realization of Mimì’s death and accompanying his anguished cries.” AM

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com by Jennifer Hambrick TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Pages 619-20. Related DMDB Links: Last updated 2/24/2026.