At the beginning of the twentieth century, Adolf Wölfli (Woelfli), a former farmhand and laborer, produced a monumental, 25,000-page illustrated narrative in Waldau, a mental asylum near Bern, Switzerland. Through a complex web of texts, drawings, collages and musical compositions, Wölfli constructed a new history of his childhood and a glorious future with its own personal mythology. The French Surrealist André Breton described his work as "one of the three or four most important oeuveres of the twentieth century". source
(This video has a broken French narration and music, but many images of Woelfli are plentiful)
You find MP3 of Gelesen und vertont (in German) HERE
Whether Wölfli's music can be played is often asked: Yes, but with much difficulty. Parts of the musical manuscripts of 1913 were analyzed in 1976 by Kjell Keller and Peter Streif and were performed. As Wölfli has indicated, his music consists of dances, waltzes, mazurkas, and polkas. However, how Wölfli gathered his knowledge of music, and how he managed to write it down is unclear. The above Gelesen und vertont [Adolf Wölfli: Recited and set to music). Sound recording. Selection and adaption of the texts by Jürgen Glaesemer and Elka Spoerri, ed. Bernische Kunstgesellschaft and Adolf Wölfli Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Bern, 1978.
A film about Woelfli by Alfredo Knuchel, „Halleluja! Der Herr ist verrückt“ / „Halleluja! The Lord Is Mad“, 2004, 87 min., color, 35 mm Stereo, is available for sale.
Find more information, pictures and stories HERE
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