"Also sprach Zarathustra," the tone poem by Richard Strauss, was first performed in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, on this day in 1896, with the composer conducting.

For decades after Strauss wrote it, it was considered one of his lesser works and only occasionally performed in concert. Then, in 1968, Stanley Kubrick chose its opening fanfare as the main theme of his enormously popular movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." Suddenly "Also Sprach" jumped to the top of the classical charts and became a concert hall favorite as well—despite the fact that many in the audience are surprised when the piece actually goes on for another half hour after its spectacular opening sequence.

A contemporary composer who benefited from Kubrick's movie was the Hungarian György Ligeti. Until "2001" Ligeti's fame was limited to avant-garde circles, but his 1961 composition "Atmosphères" also became part of the "2001" soundtrack and catapulted Ligeti to much wider fame. Ligeti's eerily floating sound-clusters seemed to Kubrick perfect "outer space" music.

Ligeti himself was not terribly impressed with how his music was used in the film, but, grudgingly, did finally express admiration for the film's surreal final sequence. Richard Strauss died in 1949—some 20 years before Kubrick's film debuted—but we suspect THAT hard-headed businessman would have been pleased with the success of his "Zarathustra" music in "2001"… but would have promptly demanded a hefty cut of Kubrick's royalties.