Der Untergeher

The narrator of the work, first published in 1983, lives in Madrid and is writing a paper about the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, "the most important piano virtuoso of the century," who stopped playing at the peak of his art. In Madrid, the narrator receives a telegram announcing the funeral of his friend Wertheimer, who has committed suicide. The three had met in Salzburg at a music course by Horowitz. Soon it became clear: Glenn Gould was the greatest genius. Under the influence of this genius's overwhelming presence, the narrator became a "philosopher of the world," a critic of his time, and especially a critic of Austria, while Wertheimer fell into an irreversible existential depression. The more the narrator thought about his "essay on Glenn," the clearer it became to him that he was actually trying to gain clarity about himself.