Superman

Tuesday 16th September

 

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, whose minstrel hero rejects religious conformity for the delights of earthly pleasure. But by 1882, things had changed. In Wagner's final opera Parsifal, a holy fool is sent to redeem suffering caused by sensual abandon.

 

Richard Strauss was also inspired by Nietzsche’s idea of the superman and his mighty tone poem based on Nietzsche’s novel expressed his own distinctive hopes and dreams for humanity. 

 

Odyssey’s latest concert explores the fascinating relationship between the philosophy of Nietzsche and two of the greatest German orchestral composers.