Richard Strauss circa 1894.

The San Diego Symphony’s Jacobs Masterworks series officially starts on Saturday, November 4, at 7:30 pm. The venue is The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. This will be the 14th season I’ve covered for the San Diego Reader. There have been several moments of majestic music-making over the years, one of which was a performance of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra. Lo and behold, that piece will be starting the 2023-2024 season.

Also Sprach Zarathustra is a philosophical novel written by Friedrich Nietzsche and published in four parts between 1883 and 1885. Strauss wrote his tone poem in nine parts in 1896. Stanley Kubrick brought it to the big screen with 1968’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. Since then, it has been a staple of popular culture being used as both an inspiration and as a parody.

The central theme of the book is the death of God. Nietzsche famously proclaimed that "God is dead," meaning that traditional religious beliefs and values no longer hold sway in modern society. Zarathustra descends from his mountain solitude to share his wisdom with humanity. He challenges the prevailing religious and moral systems, urging individuals to embrace their own power and create their own values. Nietzsche argues that the death of God opens up the possibility for humans to become the creators of their own destiny.

That’s a lot of responsibility. One could argue that the 20th Century proved that humanity is not up to the task what with all the genocide, world wars, and atomic bombs.

Nietzsche believed that all living beings possess an inherent drive to exert their power and assert their dominance—see genocide and world wars. However, it is power over oneself and one's suffering that is the ultimate goal. Zarathustra encourages individuals to embrace their will to power and strive for self-overcoming. By doing so, they can transcend their limitations and reach their full potential. This is commonly referred to as sublimation.

It is here that classical music gives us the greatest example. Not in the form of Richard Strauss but in Beethoven. Beethoven’s entire life was one big act of sublimation but that’s another story. Also Sprach Zarathustra was the best thing Strauss had written to that point. In that way, he overcame his previous limitations.

The eternal recurrence is another important idea presented in Also Sprach Zarathustra. Nietzsche suggests that life is cyclical and that every moment will recur infinitely. We must therefore live our lives in such a way that we would willingly repeat every moment for eternity. It calls for a radical affirmation of life, embracing both the joys and the sufferings, as they are essential parts of the human experience. Nietzsche argues that only by embracing the eternal recurrence can individuals truly live authentically and overcome the nihilism that arises from the death of God.

Put that in your woke pipe and smoke it.