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45-562: Also sprach Zarathustra , Op. 30 ( German: [ˈalzo ʃpʁaːx t͡saʁaˈtʊstʁa] , 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 philosophical 1883–1885 novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra . Strauss conducted its first performance on 27 November 1896 in Frankfurt . A typical performance lasts roughly thirty-three minutes. The initial fanfare  – titled "Sunrise" in

90-413: A C. One of the major compositional themes of the piece is the contrast between the keys of B major , representing humanity , and C major , representing the universe . Because B and C are adjacent notes, these keys are tonally dissimilar: B major uses five sharps , while C major has none. There are two opinions about the world riddle theme . One is that the fifth/octave intervals (C–G–C) constitute

135-657: A companion piece to "Opus 27, No. 1" ( Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major , 1800–01), paired in same opus number, with both being subtitled Sonata quasi una Fantasia , the only two of the kind in all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. Furthermore, the Piano Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2, in C-sharp minor is also catalogued as "Sonata No. 14", because it is the fourteenth sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Given composers' inconsistent or non-existent assignment of opus numbers, especially during

180-420: A composer's juvenilia are often numbered after other works, even though they may be some of the composer's first completed works. To indicate the specific place of a given work within a music catalogue , the opus number is paired with a cardinal number ; for example, Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801, nicknamed Moonlight Sonata ) is "Opus 27, No. 2", whose work-number identifies it as

225-571: A composer's works, as in the sets of string quartets by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827); Haydn's Op. 76, the Erdödy quartets (1796–97), comprises six discrete quartets consecutively numbered Op. 76 No. 1 – Op. 76 No. 6; whilst Beethoven's Op. 59, the Rasumovsky quartets (1805–06), comprises String Quartet No. 7, String Quartet No. 8, and String Quartet No. 9. From about 1800, composers usually assigned an opus number to

270-453: A composition, Prokofiev occasionally assigned a new opus number to the revision; thus Symphony No. 4 is two thematically related but discrete works: Symphony No. 4, Op. 47, written in 1929; and Symphony No. 4, Op. 112, a large-scale revision written in 1947. Likewise, depending upon the edition, the original version of Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major, is cataloged both as Op. 38 and as Op. 135. Despite being used in more or less normal fashion by

315-403: A key, but it gives a sense of motion and tension. It has long been used to evoke grief, loss, or sorrow. In the twentieth century it has also become independent of major and minor scales and is used as the basis for entire compositions. The chromatic scale has no set enharmonic spelling that is always used. Its spelling is, however, often dependent upon major or minor key signatures and whether

360-553: A number of important early-twentieth-century composers, including Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) and Anton Webern (1883–1945), opus numbers became less common in the later part of the twentieth century. To manage inconsistent opus-number usages – especially by composers of the Baroque (1600–1750) and of the Classical (1720–1830) music eras – musicologists have developed comprehensive and unambiguous catalogue number-systems for

405-475: A result, in 12-tone equal temperament (the most common tuning in Western music), the chromatic scale covers all 12 of the available pitches. Thus, there is only one chromatic scale. The ratio of the frequency of one note in the scale to that of the preceding note is given by 2 12 ≊ 1.06 {\displaystyle {\sqrt[{12}]{2}}\approxeq 1.06} . In equal temperament, all

450-776: A result, the plural opera of opus tends to be avoided in English. In other languages such as German, however, it remains common. In the arts, an opus number usually denotes a work of musical composition , a practice and usage established in the seventeenth century when composers identified their works with an opus number. In the eighteenth century, publishers usually assigned opus numbers when publishing groups of like compositions, usually in sets of three, six or twelve compositions. Consequently, opus numbers are not usually in chronological order, unpublished compositions usually had no opus number, and numeration gaps and sequential duplications occurred when publishers issued contemporaneous editions of

495-636: A work or set of works upon publication. After approximately 1900, they tended to assign an opus number to a composition whether published or not. However, practices were not always perfectly consistent or logical. For example, early in his career, Beethoven selectively numbered his compositions (some published without opus numbers), yet in later years, he published early works with high opus numbers. Likewise, some posthumously published works were given high opus numbers by publishers, even though some of them were written early in Beethoven's career. Since his death in 1827,

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540-412: Is Do, Di, Re, Ri, Mi, Fa, Fi, Sol, Si, La, Li, Ti and the descending is Ti, Te/Ta, La, Le/Lo, Sol, Se, Fa, Mi, Me/Ma, Re, Ra, Do, However, once 0 is given to a note, due to octave equivalence , the chromatic scale may be indicated unambiguously by the numbers 0-11 mod twelve . Thus two perfect fifths are 0-7-2. Tone rows , orderings used in the twelve-tone technique , are often considered this way due to

585-776: Is a diatonic semitone ( Pythagorean limma ) and 2187 ⁄ 2048 is a chromatic semitone ( Pythagorean apotome ). The chromatic scale in Pythagorean tuning can be tempered to the 17-EDO tuning (P5 = 10 steps = 705.88 cents). In 5-limit just intonation the chromatic scale, Ptolemy's intense chromatic scale , is as follows, with flats higher than their enharmonic sharps, and new notes between E–F and B–C (cents rounded to one decimal): The fractions 9 ⁄ 8 and 10 ⁄ 9 , 6 ⁄ 5 and 32 ⁄ 27 , 5 ⁄ 4 and 81 ⁄ 64 , 4 ⁄ 3 and 27 ⁄ 20 , and many other pairs are interchangeable, as 81 ⁄ 80 (the syntonic comma )

630-405: 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 : 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

675-431: Is made up entirely of successive half steps, the smallest interval in Western music....Counting by half steps, an octave includes twelve different pitches, white and black keys together. The chromatic scale, then, is a collection of all the available pitches in order upward or downward, one octave's worth after another. A chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step intervals. Since each tone of

720-424: Is tempered out. Just intonation tuning can be approximated by 19-EDO tuning (P5 = 11 steps = 694.74 cents). The ancient Chinese chromatic scale is called Shí-èr-lǜ . However, "it should not be imagined that this gamut ever functioned as a scale , and it is erroneous to refer to the 'Chinese chromatic scale', as some Western writers have done. The series of twelve notes known as the twelve lü were simply

765-586: The Baroque (1600–1750) and the Classical (1750–1827) eras, musicologists have developed other catalogue-number systems; among them the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV-number) and the Köchel-Verzeichnis (K- and KV-numbers), which enumerate the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , respectively. In the classical period , the Latin word opus ("work", "labour"), plural opera ,

810-626: The Robert Graves novel I, Claudius . Opus number In music , the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition , or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer 's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work. Opus numbers do not necessarily indicate chronological order of composition. For example, posthumous publications of

855-556: The Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan . Due to its use in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey , the opening theme of the tone poem became well-known, and was often used as a portent of a significant event to come or regularly used for space-related scenes. A rare instance of its use on film before 2001 can be heard over the opening credits of the 1965 BBC documentary The Epic that Never Was , which investigated Alexander Korda's ill-fated 1937 adaptation of

900-522: 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

945-560: The Backworldsmen" begins with cellos, double-basses and organ pedal before changing into a lyrical passage for the entire section. "Of the Great Longing" introduces motifs that are more chromatic in nature. "Of Joys and Passions", in C minor , marks the first subject theme of the work's allegro (exposition) proper. The strings prevail in "The Song of the Grave", in which some would say

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990-964: The Mendelssohn heirs published (and cataloged) them as the Italian Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 , and as the Reformation Symphony No. 5 in D major and D minor, Op. 107 . While many of the works of Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) were given opus numbers, these did not always bear a logical relationship to the order in which the works were written or published. To achieve better sales, some publishers, such as N. Simrock , preferred to present less experienced composers as being well established, by giving some relatively early works much higher opus numbers than their chronological order would merit. In other cases, Dvořák gave lower opus numbers to new works to be able to sell them to other publishers outside his contract obligations. This way it could happen that

1035-548: The Nature-motif plucked softly, by the basses in its original key of C—and above the woodwinds, in the key of B major. The unsolvable end of the universe: for Strauss was not pacified by Nietzsche's solution. Neither C major nor B major is established as the tonic at the end of the composition. The first recording was made in 1935 with Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra . In 1944, Strauss conducted

1080-465: The Nature-motif). On its first appearance, the motif is a part of the first five notes of the natural overtone series : octave, octave and fifth, two octaves, two octaves and major third (played as part of a C major chord with the third doubled). The major third is immediately changed to a minor third , which is the first note played in the work (E flat) that is not part of the overtone series. "Of

1125-507: The World riddle motif. The other is that the two conflicting keys in the final section represent the World riddle (C–G–C B–F ♯ –B), with the unresolved harmonic progression being an unfinished or unsolved riddle: the melody does not conclude with a well-defined tonic note as being either C or B, hence it is unfinished. The ending of the composition has been described: But the riddle is not solved. The tone-poem ends enigmatically in two keys,

1170-421: The basses must play a contra B (the lowest B on a piano), which is only possible on a 5-string bass or (less frequently) on a 4-string bass with a low-B extension. The development continues in "The Convalescent". By the end of this section, there is a prolonged retransition over the dominant of C major. Back in C major, "The Dance Song" marks the recapitulation. It features a very prominent violin solo throughout

1215-544: The best work of an artist with the term magnum opus . In Latin, the words opus (singular) and opera (plural) are related to the words opera (singular) and operae (plural), which gave rise to the Italian words opera (singular) and opere (plural), likewise meaning "work". In contemporary English, the word opera has specifically come to denote the dramatic musical genres of opera or ballet, which were developed in Italy. As

1260-449: The black and white keys in one octave on the piano—form the chromatic scale . The tones of the chromatic scale (unlike those of the major or minor scale) are all the same distance apart, one half step. The word chromatic comes from the Greek chroma , color ; and the traditional function of the chromatic scale is to color or embellish the tones of the major and minor scales. It does not define

1305-536: The case of Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); after his death, the heirs published many compositions with opus numbers that Mendelssohn did not assign. In life, he published two symphonies ( Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 ; and Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ), furthermore he published his symphony-cantata Lobgesang , Op. 52, which was posthumously counted as his Symphony No. 2; yet, he chronologically wrote symphonies between symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, which he withdrew for personal and compositional reasons; nevertheless,

1350-466: The cases of César Franck (1822–1890), Béla Bartók (1881–1945), and Alban Berg (1885–1935), who initially numbered, but then stopped numbering their compositions. Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) and Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) were also inconsistent in their approaches. Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) was consistent and assigned an opus number to a composition before composing it; at his death, he left fragmentary and planned, but numbered, works. In revising

1395-757: The composer's programme notes – became incredibly well known after its use in Stanley Kubrick 's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey . 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 piece

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1440-482: The ensuing centuries, share a similar asymmetry. In Pythagorean tuning (i.e. 3-limit just intonation ) the chromatic scale is tuned as follows, in perfect fifths from G ♭ to A ♯ centered on D (in bold) (G ♭ –D ♭ –A ♭ –E ♭ –B ♭ –F–C–G– D –A–E–B–F ♯ –C ♯ –G ♯ –D ♯ –A ♯ ), with sharps higher than their enharmonic flats (cents rounded to one decimal): where 256 ⁄ 243

1485-415: The first four symphonies to be composed were published after the last five; and (c) the last five symphonies were not published in order of composition. The New World Symphony originally was published as No. 5, later was known as No. 8, and definitively was renumbered as No. 9 in the critical editions published in the 1950s. Other examples of composers' historically inconsistent opus-number usages include

1530-469: The increased ease of comparing inverse intervals and forms ( inversional equivalence ). The most common conception of the chromatic scale before the 13th century was the Pythagorean chromatic scale ( Play ). Due to a different tuning technique, the twelve semitones in this scale have two slightly different sizes. Thus, the scale is not perfectly symmetric. Many other tuning systems , developed in

1575-475: The same opus number was given to more than one of his works. Opus number 12, for example, was assigned, successively, to five different works (an opera, a concert overture, a string quartet, and two unrelated piano works). In other cases, the same work was given as many as three different opus numbers by different publishers. The sequential numbering of his symphonies has also been confused: (a) they were initially numbered by order of publication, not composition; (b)

1620-415: The scale is ascending or descending. In general, the chromatic scale is usually notated with sharp signs when ascending and flat signs when descending. It is also notated so that no scale degree is used more than twice in succession (for instance, G ♭  – G ♮  – G ♯ ). Similarly, some notes of the chromatic scale have enharmonic equivalents in solfege . The rising scale

1665-411: The scale is equidistant from the next [ symmetry ] it has no tonic [ key ]. ... Chromaticism [is t]he introduction of some pitches of the chromatic scale into music that is basically diatonic in orientation, or music that is based on the chromatic scale instead of the diatonic scales. The ascending and descending chromatic scale is shown below. The twelve notes of the octave— all

1710-401: The second subject theme, in B minor , starts in this section. The following portion of the piece can be analyzed as a large development section. "Of Science and Learning" features an unusual fugue beginning at measure 201 in the double-basses and cellos, which consists of all twelve notes of the chromatic scale . Measure 223 contains one of the few sections in the orchestral literature where

1755-472: The section. Later in this section, elements from "The Song of the Grave" (the second subject theme) are heard in the work's original key. "Song of the Night Wanderer" marks the coda of the tone poem. It begins with 12 strikes of midnight. The end of the "Song of the Night Wanderer" leaves the piece half-resolved, with high flutes, piccolos and violins playing a B major chord, while the lower strings pluck

1800-406: The semitones have the same size (100 cents ), and there are twelve semitones in an octave (1200 cents). As a result, the notes of an equal-tempered chromatic scale are equally-spaced. The chromatic scale ...is a series of half steps which comprises all the pitches of our [12-tone] equal-tempered system. All of the pitches in common use, considered together, constitute the chromatic scale . It

1845-501: The tone poem's structure. 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 (known also as

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1890-448: The un-numbered compositions have been cataloged and labeled with the German acronym WoO ( Werk ohne Opuszahl ), meaning "work without opus number"; the same has been done with other composers who used opus numbers. (There are also other catalogs of Beethoven's works – see Catalogues of Beethoven compositions .) The practice of enumerating a posthumous opus ("Op. posth.") is noteworthy in

1935-441: The works of composers such as: Chromatic scale Most music uses subsets of the chromatic scale such as diatonic scales . While the chromatic scale is fundamental in western music theory , it is seldom directly used in its entirety in musical compositions or improvisation . The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches , each a semitone , also known as a half-step, above or below its adjacent pitches. As

1980-610: 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

2025-409: Was used to identify, list, and catalogue a work of art. By the 15th and 16th centuries, the word opus was used by Italian composers to denote a specific musical composition, and by German composers for collections of music. In compositional practice, numbering musical works in chronological order dates from 17th-century Italy, especially Venice . In common usage, the word opus is used to describe

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