Also sprach Zarathustra is a tone poem by German composer Richard Strauss, composed in 1896. The orchestral programme work features a striking opening fanfare, expansive orchestration with prominent brass and organ textures and sweeping orchestral arcs, and it marks an important stage in Strauss's development of large-scale tone poems and in the evolution of late-Romantic orchestral writing, drawing inspiration from Nietzsche's philosophical novel.
