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Richard Strauss finds his Nietzsche. Episode 13 - Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss.
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- Опубліковано 4 січ 2021
- Anxious? Soul-searching? Existential? What better tonic than Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, a tone poem based on the life-affirming philosophies of Nietzsche!
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MUSIC CREDITS:
Composer: Richard Strauss
Work: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30
Performer: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Andris Nelsons
Year: 2014
Label: Orfeo
Catalogue No: C878141A
With thanks to Emilia Strachevskaia.
Even though the beginning of that piece is most famous, the ending is so damn meaningful and interesting
100%
Richard Strauss' meaning of life: C Major is nature, B Minor is humanity
Johann Strauss' meaning of life: "One, two, three; one , two, three" *dancing waltz intensifies
Id honestly pay to keep this series going
Hi Adam, thanks a lot, this is truly heart warming! There is a link to our Patreon page - please feel free to become our patron :)
@@andrewacomb6784 That's a great suggestion! Thank you! We'll include it in the voice overs
@@andrewacomb6784 And thank you for becoming our Patron! it means a lot to us
I was literally just looking for analysis on this song a few days ago, awesome! How about Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns next?🤔
maybe be not next, but it's already on our list :)
@@ClassicsExplained the hero we need in these times 🙌😁😁😁😁
@@ClassicsExplained (maybe a lil Schnittke??? Or Ligeti, or Satie?? Stockhausen would be too easy for ur animators lolol)
@@ClassicsExplainedTchaikovsky' Manfred symphony, please
I dont think that an analysis on Danse Macabre would be necessary, its quite easy to listen to but well, whatever suits you your content is enjoyable nonetheless
This is such an underrated channel; I wish this channel got more recognition.
It’s extremely rare to come across such high quality videos, and I’m glad I discovered this little secret channel after searching The Rite of Spring on UA-cam.
Thank you so much!
We really need a video on Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique! I would love to see it illustrated
Thanks - we are sooo close to having it ready haha
Oh my goodness. That was a great explanation with the deeper meanings behind Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra with Nietzsche. Thank you for making and sharing!
Much appreciated - it really is an amazing piece :)
Please do Carmen or Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. Gershwin or Shostakovich would also be amazing
Delighted to tell you that we are currently animating one of these!
@@ClassicsExplained 🙌 Yay!!
I hope this channel becomes a TV show for kids so that they learn how wonderful can Classical music. Keep doing what you are doing, you guys are amazing !!!👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
That’s the biggest compliment thank you so much!
We’d love that opportunity to arise - in fact with kids now having to miss so much school, it would sort of make sense.
my son is already following this channel.
I would like to see more of Strauss' tone poem's analysis, there are plenty more from him which are at least as good as Also Sprach...!
I agree. For all the fame of ASZ, i personally really like Don Juan and The Alpine Symphony. There are some who feel that ASZ is pretty bloated, bombastic and at times meandering.
I reeeeaaaaaally want a video on Till Eulenspiegal's Merry Pranks, that piece is so funny.
Sounds interesting.
@@ClassicsExplained I love his tone poems, but ASZ is still my favorite of the bunch
@@ClassicsExplained sou cristã mas a musica parece boa
2:59 “An Intellectual is someone who can listen to Also Sprach Zarathustra and not think of 2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Ah, (relative) youth! In my day it was someone who could listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.
I must be a huge imbecile because I can't not think of Ric Flair
@@digitig That too.
Strauss was a true original, a daring artist willing to break conventions on his quest for beauty and meaning. Listening to his music seems a bit confusing at first but after a while it reveals itself in sublime beauty.
Overall, well done! A few important corrections:
Nietzsche 's work is mot a novel...more like an epic poem
The book was ignored, very few read it...for decades. It was not "all the rage"...far from it.
Nietzsche's Zoraster (Zarathustra) has little to do with the original person....he uses the character as a starting point and then takes off...the philosophies expressed are Nietzsche's entirely, not Zoraster's. He makes that clear and is not pretending otherwise...
Well I have to agree to disagree. Aforism is way too radical to be called a poem. You know poetry has a lot of rules and lines, but Aforism is just straight-up free writing, like free free, there are no rules after all. That's also why it is very hard to understand Nietzsche's books.
Yes! Excellent work. I'd love to see 'Symphonie Fantastique!' I've heard the dude composed it on an opium bender. Hahaha
Thanks! Berlioz was off his rocker - we are touching it up now :)
I think it's wonderful how a composer like Richard Strauss had so little confidence in the "rightfulness" of his music that he had to fill it with a plethora of literary quotations, artistic references and infinite other citations, like he had to justify the very existence of his music giving it a solid and undeniable foundation that is not simply the nature itself of his music, it appears almost like there's no true confidence in the music itself, but still has the guts to tackle such a impossibly hard piece of literature like Nietzsche's poem. It's striking how wonderfully conflicting this double nature is in his music
Thank you for this amazing video... I almost cried in the end... So good!
Yahooo! Another episode of Classics Explained and with one of my favorite pieces too!
Hopefully you'll one day talk about Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.
we will and very soon!
@@ClassicsExplained Please do Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. How about it?
Peter and the Wolf sort of explains itself, doesn't it?
I love Symphonie Fantastique and the story behind it is beyond dramatic and interesting! Perhaps I’m a little biased as I got the Eb clarinet solo in the fifth movement ;)
“Your books a bit complicated” STRAUSS YOUR MUSIC IS LIKE THE HARDEST OUT OF ALL THE COMPOSERS
Being a bassist, one page in this piece in particular is referred to as "the black page of death" for how many notes are on the page.
@@justanobadi6655 please send a link i'd love to see it
Do Symphonie Fantastique! It has Dies Irae, Fatherpiece of the use of ''leitmotive'' and is just an awsome story!
We are releasing it very soon :)
I just binged all of your videos and I absolutely LOVE them!
❤️
I am very invested in rachmaninoff’s 2nd symphony or PC right now
Thank you, for providing us with such profound explanation intertwined with philosophical notions. Masterfully analysed, well done.
i love these videos - Please please please keep creating!
Dmitri Shostakovich's The Nose. Please! That opera is one of a kind
Absolutely agree! I've been pestering them about Shostakovich for a while now, so we'll have to be patient!
@@sophiatalksmusic3588 I also agree. Lady McBeth of Mtsensk would also be great. Especially with all the history around it
Johann Strauss II wrote The Blue Danube which is often performed on New Years and also appears in 2001 A Space Oddessey, as well as Little Einsteins, Rango, and Horten Hears a Who.
I would love to see one about Shostakovich!
I love how accessible and easy to understand this is!
thanks - that’s what we were trying to go for! not dumbing down but also not overly-scholarly
You all have done a brilliant job/service with these excellent videos. Bravo!
I cannot believe this channel has so few subs. Will be sharing this with my friends
Thank you! ❤️
this channel is too fkin underrated
Thank you - we'd like to think so too!
The Carnival of Animals by Camille Saint-Saens would be nice to see
Absolutely, And Dance Macabre as well!
Can't wait for the next video. Every time I watch one of your videos, I have a sudden urge to listen or relisten the piece.
Oh this is so great to hear!
Thank you for creating such an accessable explanations of the repetoire! These are incredibly well-made and really quite fun to watch!
If I could recommend another tone poem, I would definitely say either Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead or one of Respighi's Roman Triology poems. If I could recommend a symphony: Bruckner's 4th is dying for y'all's treatment. It's a work that depicts its story with remarkable clarity.
Thank you for your suggestions! Added to the list! and thanks for all the kind words - we really appreciate your support.
Open the pod bay doors, HAL
A humorous historical video of one of the most iconic works of classical in all human history!
As a violinist i can say that it was such a pleasure to play this symphonic poem. ❤love all those waves, storms forests and heaven. The greatest music treasure for all times
I'm so glad I found this channel. Really appreciate the hard works you've put into the content.
This is the loveliest message - really appreciated :)
Ben and team, this is phenomenal! Thank you so much for producing it.
Thanks Michael!
I’ve just discovered this channel and have proceeded to binge watch every episode
Thank you so much!
Some suggestions: Liszt's 'Les Preludes"; Wagner's 'Tannhäuser'; Bartók's 'Concerto for Orchestra'...
More of strauss please!!! Your explications are amazing... it would be great understand more of A hero's life, Don juan, till eulespigel, Don Juan... Thanks from spain!!
You really need to do The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi next. His orchestrations are simply stunning and beautiful. Not to mention that it has one of the best finales in orchestral music. 😊
Thanks! I love that piece too - Respighi is much-underrated
Should your life circumstances permit it please make more of these!! They are some of the best introductory videos to classics on this platform!!
I would love to see Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin😁
We've just recorded it ;)
@@ClassicsExplained I'm so excited! It's my favorite piece!
@@ClassicsExplained anxiously awaiting the upload!
Awesome! I really love your videos. How about The Sorcerer’s Apprentice next?
thanks! what a fabulous suggestion - didn’t actually think of it just because I presumed Fantasia had already got that one covered, but there’s always room to update it!
:D
@@ClassicsExplained How about Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue?
@@kirstendonovan4092 it will be with you soon :)
I've recently discovered this channel and Im amazed by the original content you guys make! I especially liked the Stravinsky video.
Kudos to you all!
May I make a suggestion? The Shostakovich Symphony number 11 would certainly be a good idea.
Thanks for the good content!
Thank you for your support! The Shostakovich Symphony number 11 is on the list :) ❤️
Hands down one of my favorite pieces of orchestral music. Thank you for such an informative and entertaining video!
Thank you for watching! We're glad you enjoyed it
"Thus spoke Strauss" - Epic comment! :)
Was wondering if you could explore some Rachmaninov, maybe the piano concerto 2 or 3, or 2nd symphony. You work is extraordinary, thank you!
Thank you! And thanks for the suggestions!
@@ClassicsExplained
I agree. The story behind Rachmaninoff overcoming depression and writer's through writing his masterpiece is quite the story! Thank you for these amazing videos!
You deserve millions of subscribers and at least a billion views!
Let's hope :))
Finally Find a good channel
Last Upload:3 month before
* Sad noise *
We will release more - we promise! Still a small channel so takes time and money to make each upload really good quality :)
Idk how difficult it would be to make a video on this piece, but I would absolutely love to see an analysis of Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger!!
That's quite a challenge but we like challenges!
Beautiful
Thanks! Keep enjoying classical music!
I've played Zarathustra many times (and will do so again next season) and have never heard it explained so clearly. Bravi tutti!
Thank you very much! It is a very difficult piece to get one's head around because most people only ever talk about the sunrise at the beginning. But as you will know, it is so much more complex and beautiful than that.
This was just wonderful! I will never be able to listen to this piece of music the same again. Wonderful.
Thanks so much for your support :)
11:08 small side note: Nietzsche despised alcohol for similar reasons as he despised religion
It's a shame he is misunderstood.
This is just amazingly well explained.
Thanks so much again!
The science fugue is my absolute favorite part!
I love how he's sucking his thumb in the very beginning while he's sleeping!
The video was very amusing. I love the cartoons. Thank you. I wonder if Nietzche and Strauss lived in this present time when we have many channels that get messages from beings from other planets. We, humans, openly discuss becoming super humans led by each higher mind. We are not confined to a small cage of religion or science.
This channel is amazing I’m so glad I found it
The composer of this piece also conducted the premiere of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel in 1893.
It'd be really cool to see Ravel's Bolero or Bartok's concerto for orchestra. I think this is my new favourite youtube series.
maybe even bruckner's 7th
Great suggestions! And thanks for your kind words. we really appreciate your support! ❤️
Hooray yay richard strauss
I just discovered this channel, and I can’t get enough! Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks so much for your kind words and support :)
@@ClassicsExplained Please we need more!
Amazing! Listen to the music, the description, the philosophy, gives you time to think. Amazing!
I'm happily binging on your videos, thank you!
Thank you! Binge away :))
I'm Italian and your videos are beautiful!!!. Regards from Milan
thank you !!
After Symphonie Fantastique, do Bizet's Carmen. It's suits your channel PERFECTLY!!!!!!!!!!!
8:28 my favorite scene
Fantastic channel, keep up the great work!
Ohh it'd be great to see something by Sibelius - maybe Finlandia or the Karelia Suite?
This one was wonderful. Thank you! I enjoyed learning more about the philosophy and the underlying message. Keep it up!
I smiled and laughed all 11-and-a-half minutes! When I was at Conservatory, "Sonatas for Sad People" was all the rage! You are all so brilliant and inspired. Thanks for all the joy
Thank you - very much appreciated :)
Come one YT, more folks need to see this. Get to work Al.
awww!! We appreciate this so so so much PerkiTunes YT!!
this is officially my new favorite channel. i’ve been binge watching all of your videos they’re amazing!! it’s really obvious from your content that you genuinely just love to learn/talk about the history behind classical music. i’m also so intrigued by it, so this channel is just the best. thanks for creating such great videos!!!
❤️Thank you so much for this comment!
central themes:
- reach self imporved status of the superman
- escape the conventiaonl ways of thinking
strauss wrote tone poems with rich orchestration+innovative harmonies (everyone has different part in harmony)
the free flowing fantasies evoke images and ideas of other art forms
Composed in 1896
Overview/Summary
Piece begins with the breaking of dawn- double basses, contrabassoon, organ in the lowest C
Trumpet fanfare as sun rises
Trumpet fanfare is the theme of nature and symbolises the power of the universe
The sun blazes fiercely to the great C major chord
C major represents nature at its purest
As Zarathustra descends the mountain to re join humankind, key changes to B minor
B minor symbolises humanity
the theme of humanity is introduced by the cellos
When he arrives down the mountain he meets a saint
As muted horns intone the credo from the Roman Catholic Mass: I Believe in One God one or two bars before the Massig Langsam, the saint explains that he has found refuge from the sufferings and imperfections of the mortal world by devoting himself to God.
Strings play an intensely lyrical hymn as seductive as the emotional comforts of religious faith
Desk 3 cello entry-> Zarathustra saying that god is dead and that humans used religion to understand the mysteries of the universe
Strauss believed that religion imprisoned the human spirit and man's evolution towards the superman
The hymn's B minor key of humanity is disturbed by the theme of nature in C major, suggesting that humanity's religious faith cannot dominate nature.
The saint cannot loose his closeness to God- represented by the organ playing parts of the Magnificat: Christian hymn My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord
Zarathustra suggests an alternative path for humanity-> Fruheres Zeitmass. (massig langsam)
Derive meaning from nature, not faith claiming that we should follow our basic instincts and erotic desires as a way to overcome the world and rise to superhuman status- Bewegt
chord part in cello before Bewegt goes to C minor- compromise between humanity and nature
pitch is high as Zarathustra remembers his youthful passions of defying morality and no religion
trombones show Zarathustra's disgust at unbridled pleasure seeking at figure 6 and a bit before
indulgence will eventually exhaust you or lead you to an early death
leads into the song of the grave where Zarathustra buries religion and youthful passions as neither will help humanity overcome nature and find its way into the abyss of existence
Strauss goes into a Fuge- the most academic musical form
Theme is introduced by the cellists of the 4th desk
Fugue mocks science and teases the precise, nit-pickiness of scientists
In the fugue, strauss mixes the theme of humanity and nature
The scientific mind gets tangled up in knotty arguments
science cant explain the meaning of life either
Zarathustra has an existential breakdown around figure 16
Unable to justify his existence, he withdraws back into his cave
he collapses to the thunder, and the explosive nature theme at sehr schnell
the universe triumphs over humanity
Silence.
he slowly regains consciousness, and although too traumatised to rejoin humanity yet, he is determined to continue his quest to solve the riddle of the universe and the path to superman.
Figure 18: breaks out in laughter- the woodwinds adding strange special effects
Zarathustra rises to his feet and starts to dance
The theme of nature sounds quietly from the solo violin
Strauss adds a Viennese waltz to parody the other Strauss- the Waltz King
Waltz comes to a climax, twelve chimes of a bell signal the arrival of midnight, the moment of ultimate revelation when Zarathustra finally transcends nature
He emerges from his cave dancing up to the cosmos at figure 53, a superman who leaves the world sinking far beneath him.
Key change to B minor a reminder of those back on Earth yearning to be as free as Zarathustra
The winds climb higher and higher as mankind reach out for the stars
As the piece ends, Strauss puts a high B minor chord in the violins as cellos and double basses play nature's theme of C down below
Strauss finishes with a baffling cliff-hanger ending, the B minor and C major keys suggest that nature and humanity can never be reconciled, and that the meaning of life will forever be a mystery.
This is truly a great work. Gracias!
Brilliant work you guys!! So witty and aesthetically pleasing. Your channel is truly a gem, makes me want to recommend you to every friend :)
Love this support - we really appreciate it
This is my new favorite UA-cam channel. I never knew this piece had a much deeper meaning! So far, my favorite videos of yours so have been on The Rite of Spring and Romeo and Juliet. ♥️
I would love to see a video on a piece by Saint-Saens or Ravel someday, or maybe someone more obscure that needs more love.
❤️Thank you for the kind words and for the suggestions!
Wow, this channel is amazing! I love your videos :) I hope you'll do one on Carnaval des Animaux by Saint-Saëns, Carmen by Bizet, or the Chants d'Espagne/Suite Española by Albeniz someday! Thank you for the amazing content.
Thank you for watching! ❤️
Very enjoyable!! Huge thanks !!
This was a great explanation of Strauss' work, but I think you may have misunderstood Nietzsche. What Nietzsche was most concerned with was overcoming the nihilism that results from the death of God. What was to be most despised and avoided was the "last man", i.e. the kind of future described in John Lennon's "imagine". He also certainly did not believe everyone could become a Superman. The Superman is a unique individual who invents a new set of values for society by overcoming the old ones, particularly by overcoming the slavish values of democracy and equality and prepares a way for a new aristocracy that expresses itself through the will to power.
An aristocracy would just decline into decadence due to every heards tendency to impose strict values, thats also why he didn't like marxism
@UCEZLyPErstL7OMhDZgoCgow You're joking right? It's a consistent theme throughout his work. Passage 257 in Beyond Good and Evil is good example of it. Also, I think in one of his letters he describes his political views as "aristocratic radicalism".
"EVERY elevation of the type "man," has hitherto been the work of an aristocratic society and so it will always be-a society believing in a long scale of gradations of rank and differences of worth among human beings, and requiring slavery in some form or other. Without the PATHOS OF DISTANCE, such as grows out of the incarnated difference of classes, out of the constant out-looking and down-looking of the ruling caste on subordinates and instruments, and out of their equally constant practice of obeying and commanding, of keeping down and keeping at a distance-that other more mysterious pathos could never have arisen, the longing for an ever new widening of distance within the soul itself, the formation of ever higher, rarer, further, more extended, more comprehensive states, in short, just the elevation of the type "man," the continued "self-surmounting of man," to use a moral formula in a supermoral sense."
- Beyond Good and Evil, ch. 9 "What is Noble"
@@russellhenrybieber6620 Nietzsche was absolutely in favour of imposing strict values. What he didn't like were the values of democracy and equality.
Informative in a nutshell, like all the rest of your videos... nice job.
this guys caricatures are perfect
The narration over the music really takes this to another level. Great video!
Thank you - very much appreciated
I really appreciate how much effort you put into these videos, I know you're going to blow up soon. You should be getting hundreds of thousands of views.
Thank you so much! ❤️ We put our hearts and souls into these videos and nothing is more rewarding than comments like this one
I literally just binged your series, it's so awesome! Keep up the work!
Thanks so much :)
More please
he's back
Your vids are sooooooo good especially the Holst one
thank you so much!! it means a lot to us
Very well done. Keep em coming! If you did one about Shostakovich, that would be sweet.
LOVE your videos! Keep up the excellent work.
Thank you for your support!
You should do a Mahler Symphony. Idc which one there all great.
^^^THIS^^^ 1, 2, or 5 or really any symphony. I’d personally love to see #2, but I think for this channel Das Lied von der Erde would be interesting to viewers.
the san francisco symphony did a whole documentary on his first. it’s ridiculously interesting and i’d recommend watching it
This is absolutely delightful! Thanks for all your hard work. I know your list of suggestions is long and full for probably years to come, so I won't add to it, I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work you put in to making classical music understandable and accessible to all.
Robin, thank you so much for this heart warming message! It's certainly something we really-really want - to make classical music fun and accessible. Yeah, the list is looooong, but please feel free to add to it! :)
@@ClassicsExplained I feel like the Meditation from Thaïs is a fascinating piece, since so few dramatic moments in opera happen completely wordlessly once you're past the overture. But then, my work is opera-focussed, so I'm biased! :P I'm hoping to do some of the same things - make opera accessible, specifically - but I'm just one person filming in an apartment, so I have SO much respect for the hard work of your artistic and creative teams here! :)
Just discovered you, great concept for a series and I hope you keep growing
Thanks so much! We really appreciate all the support!
These videos really do help!
funny nobody mentioned that Zarathustra was himself originally the prophet of a religion
ikr? all people focus on is that he's pronouncing Zarathustra differently than THEY like.
Love this channel! Please keep going 😍
Thank you very much - all the support encourages to continue!
Suggestion:
Scriabin's Mysterium.
These are so well produced! I’d love to see one on Scriabin’s Prometheus/Poem of Fire in the future.
Thanks so much! Ahh Scriabin - great, though still very misunderstood, composer - thanks for the suggestion :)