M. A. Numminen sings Wittgenstein

April 13, 2022 5:59 AM

The Tractatus Suite consists of six songs, each in a different style, composed and performed by Finnish singer-songwriter, author and national treasure M. A. Numminen, using phrases from philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. UbuWeb doesn't have the sixth song, A Proposition Is… but it is available on YouTube. You can also watch him perform Wovon man nicht sprechen kann in a television studio and also live accompanied by orchestra (who are desperately trying to keep a straight face).
posted by Kattullus (5 comments total)

A sung tractatus would be the most logical tractatus.
posted by sammyo at 7:27 AM on April 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hi.
posted by wittgenstein at 10:49 AM on April 13, 2022 [3 favorites]

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must sing.
posted by solarion at 8:35 PM on April 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

A Finnish musician sings in heavily accented English lyrics taken from a translation of a notably difficult and austere book originally written in German, with a German title put into Latin for the English translation as an homage to a 17th century Dutch philosopher of Jewish descent whose family fled to Amsterdam from the Portuguese Inquisition in the 1500s.

OK, then.
posted by jamjam at 6:04 AM on April 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

A Finnish musician sings in heavily accented English lyrics taken from a translation of a notably difficult and austere book originally written in German, with a German title put into Latin for the English translation as an homage to a 17th century Dutch philosopher of Jewish descent whose family fled to Amsterdam from the Portuguese Inquisition in the 1500s.

The Aristocrats! Europe!
posted by Kattullus at 7:20 AM on April 14, 2022 [2 favorites]