Richard Strauss wrote highly colourful
orchestrations in his symphonic poems such as Don Juan and "Till Eulenspiegels Lustighe
Streiche". The latter was inspired by a 14th century German folk tale
about a clownish prankster called Till Eulenspiegel (a rough English version of
his surname might be Till Owl-Mirror").
His tone poem (or symphonic poem) "Also Sprach Zarathustra" was loosely based on the writings of the controversial German philosopher, Nietsche, and the stunning opening passage represents a sort of "superman" hero waking up to the sunrise at dawn on top of a mountain. This passage was used by Kubrick at the opening of his famous film "2001: a Space Odyssey".