At A Glance
Florence Price flourished as a composer after moving to Chicago in 1927. She wrote about 300 works, and her Symphony No. 1 became the first piece by a Black woman performed by a leading American orchestra. Her Violin Concerto No. 2 sports virtuosic writing for the soloist and makes imaginative use of the orchestra. Though performed with a piano reduction in 1955 and 1964, its full orchestral score was believed to be lost until its rediscovery in 2009.
Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) is Richard Strauss’s loose interpretation of a philosophical treatise by Friederich Nietzsche, who in turn was inspired by Zarathustra, the ancient Persian prophet also known as Zoroaster. After ten years as a recluse in the mountains, Zarathustra watches a sunrise and decides to re-enter society. Strauss said his intention was to “convey in music an idea of the evolution of the human race from its origin.”