When Friedrich Nietzsche declared that God was dead in his philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he invited humanity to be superhuman and create their own morality. Richard Wagner had inspired this idea with works like his 1845 music drama Tannhäuser. But thirty years later, things had changed.
In Wagner's final opera Parsifal, a young man is sent to redeem the suffering of a religious order, whose leader is suffering from an incurable wound, caused by his lack of self-control. It caused Nietzsche to turn on Wagner and denounce him.
Richard Strauss was also inspired by Nietzsche’s idea of the superman and his mighty tone poem based on Thus Spoke Zarathustra expressed his own distinctive hopes and dreams for humanity.
Wagner - Prelude to Act I of Tannhäuser
Wagner - Transformation and Good Friday Music from Parsifal
R. Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra
Peter Ash - Conductor
Dominc Rye- Narrator
Source: https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/odyssey-festival-orchestra-superman