"Funeral March" 1928-1930

16 unnumbered Books

The “Funeral March” forms the conclusion of Wölfli's literary work. During the last two years of his life he worked on it persistently. The written record of his illness (in the medical history) documents his unbroken determination to bring this work to completion. Even a serious intestinal operation in March 1930 hardly diminished his production.

In the entries of December 1928, one reads that Wölfli has started working on the “Funeral March”. No Books are preserved with a 1928 dating, however, and pages 1-2395 are missing. Today, sixteen Books are existant, the pages densely written and carefully numbered 2396-8354 [8403]. Wölfli did not designate book numbers, but he remarks on one of the covers: "Attention: The numerous Books of the Funeral March were not numbered from the start! Just follow the numbering of the pages. St. Adolf II, Author. 1,929."
The Books of the “Funeral March” are also bound in horizontal format. In the last ten of them Wölfli wrote the lines in such a way that the reader has to turn up the pages from the bottom to the top instead of from left to right. The last Book remained unfinished; of its 136 pages, Wölfli wrote on only 36. On the pages 8378, 8381, 8389, 8341, and 8347 he left empty spaces annotated with the titles of the actual reproductions he intended to place there. Already cut, the pictures lie next to the respective pages. Once more we get an insight into Wölfli's method of working, and we see that the look of the pages was neither the accidental result of the writing process nor in any way "automatic writing" but was by Wölfli well in advance. The space for one or several illustrations was already determined before he began to write.

All the Books of the “Funeral March” are signed "St. Adolf II" To this are added descriptive names, as, for instance: "St. Adolf II Algebrator, Major-Commander and Music-Director, Giant-Theater-Director, Almighty-Steamship-Captain, and Dr. of Art and Science, Director of the Algebra and Geography-Books-Fabrication and Hunter-General. Inventor of 160 self-made inventions, higly valuable and patented, each of them, by the Russian Czar, and glorious victor of numerous, enormous gigantic battles."

Wölfli conceived the Funeral March as a musical composition on a grand scale; he explains: ". . . Everyone who knows anything about music will be able to play the march, it will be printed and will bring in hundreds of thousands of francs." The composition is not recorded in musical signs or in solmization but consists of phonetic structure rhymed with the vowels A, E, I, O, and U, which melt into one single body of sound. In the “Funeral March,” Wölfli uses not words "but the substance of words; sounds that suggest a language free of meaning; sounds that evoke warmth and color." Thus Wölfli takes up the expressive tonal qualities of language, its onomatopoetical value as sound. The long sequence of these phoneme rhymes is articulated by regularly placed beat indications--"8.-16.-24.-32. Chehr: 1"--as rhythmical repititions. The meaning Wölfli ascribes to the dialect word "Chehr" cannot be determined with certainty. This signal could be a rhythmic indication of emphasis and tempo, as well as a rhythmical regulator of the direction of the march. The series of phonetic structures preceded by dialect rhymes is interrupted, in rare cases, by short geographical texts, prayers, or quotations from the Bible. Wölfli describes the structure of the Funeral March: "For many years now I am working on a very beautiful and strong funeral march, which will get all together 8850 beautiful march-songs. 7,150 songs are made already. In between there are parts wuth numerous beautiful poems, puzzles, funny stories and jokes: travel-stories! hunter-stories and war-stories! As well as a respectable number of beautiful pictures. The value of the whole work once it is finished will be 55,000 Fr. A so-called "Zion-March" a little smaller than this last one, I have concluded long ago and have it under my bed,it will cost 45,000 Francs."

All the songs of the Funeral March are structured by the same compositional scheme. Wölfli picks out a motif from the collage inserted in the text and develops with a dialect rhyme to "Wiiga" (cradle), most often with the phrase "i'd Wiiga witt" (wishes into the cradle). Here is an example from pages 3434-3435 and the collage "Pathe-Baby":
"Seite. 3.434. Und. 949. Lied. Skt. Adolfina. 129. K.-Th. 849. Tenohr: 1 ? D'Pahte-Baabi, witt i d'Wiiga. Lutt-Sohn-Schiiga, ritt nit z'Witt! D'Brutt schon triiga, witt nit Britt! ? D's Chruttschou Ziiga, witt nit Gritt!!! 16 Cher:1. Wiiga. 16. Chehr:1. Giiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Stiiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Schiiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Ziiga. 16.Chehr:1. Fliiga. 16.Chehr:1. Fiiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Nit a Chida. 16.Chehr:1. Siba Gida. 16.Cher:1. Riiiga. 16.Cher:1. Biiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Liiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Opf'r-Stok'r. 16.Chehr:1. Chriiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Siiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Triiiga. 16.Chehr:1. Hopptiquax'r. 16.Chehr:1. Waaahra. 16.Chehr:1. Annnah. 16.Chehr:1
Seite, 3,435. Saaah'ra. 16.Chehr:1. Hammah. 16.Chehr:1. Haaahra. 16.Chehr:1. Mammah. 16.Chehr:1. Haaahra. 16.Chehr:1. Zammah. 16.Chehr:1. Kaaahra. 16.Chehr:1. Wammah. 16.Chehr:1. Schaara. 16.Chehr:1. Schammah. 16.Chehr:1. S'wittara witt. 16. Ist, etzak: 68,718,476,636, Schläg. Skt. Adolf II, Bern, Schweiz."

The key word "Pathe-Baby," together with the rhyme "Wiiga," establishes the connection between the word chains and the pasted reproduction. This song construction is carried throughout the entire Funeral March. The pictorial statement and the articulated, self-contained writing flow side-by-side as two interrelated yet independent streams.

(Elka Spoerri)