“The House of Wittgenstein”

Part of the Beethoven Frieze at Secession

This family biography is surely the most hilarious book I have read this year. Every line there makes me laugh, although the era that the family went through (WWI & II) was disastrous. The family’s story is surprisingly entertaining considering that it is written by an opera critic, who surely captures the dramatic aspects of this family.

One of the most crucial details in the book belongs none other to our dear Ludwig. Among his schemes of self-impoverishment is to teach at an Austrian elementary school, despite his Cambridge philosophical trainings. Eventually he was kicked out of the post because he concussed his students. The students’ parents sued him. Ludwig had no way but to return to Cambridge. Ludwig also attended school with Hitler. Their trajectories are believed to have overlapped for at least a year. No one knows what this piece of detail means.

This book also provides us an alternative reading for depression. Among the 9 children, 3 of them committed suicide, and the remaining ones either were plagued by suicidal impulses or were simply melancholy. The fact that the entire Wittgenstein family was immensely depressed doesn’t hurt the humor that this family had.

I guess the family is symptomatic of a certain vibe during that time. The gravity of depression was probably pervasive with wars, death tolls, and shattering of values swirling on. Somehow the art of this book arises from the gigantic humor that the writer leans on. It is probably dark humor.

The most important thing is the entire family are avid musicians and supporters of music. Not only the family themselves plays chamber music on a regular basis, they also invited musicians to play. They owned manuscripts of Brahms, Mahler, and Mendelssohn. All those legends had performed or listened to a performance in the family’s Saal. The family also produced a single-arm pianist Paul, who commissioned Ravel’s Left-Hand concerto.

With extreme wealth comes with extreme power. At first the family was not worried about the massacre of Jews at all until they found out they were categorized as Jews. Eventually the family worked out a deal with the Nazi so that the sisters could stay in Vienna. In the end, their collection of Klimt and music manuscripts were gone. Their palace was also gone. Their money was certainly gone. The glamor of the Wittgenstein’s unfortunately didn’t remain intact in the era of turmoils. At least Ludwig reminded everyone on his deathbed, “tell them I had a wonderful life.”

Margaret commissioned Klimt to do her portrait — as always, the family always hates the commission result.