L'esistenza di Dio - The Existence of God

Giovane teologo non fare Come in rue de Fouarre Dove si produceva amore Si produceva per Dio E arnesi per dimostrarne l'esistenza, Che già mostrava la sola competenza Lessing diciassettenne Arriva a Lipsia Per fare teologia Apprende prima la scherma e la danza La distinzione e la lontananza Camice, prego! Il teologo si prepari Agli atti della sua professione Ecco, no guardate Un po' più sotto Qui vedrete esattamente com'è fatto Dio L'attributo "buono" Delimita uno spazio Segna una distanza Il paziente non può aspettare Si proceda a regolare Dissezione Camice, prego! Signori, anatomia! Presto, bisturi. Klemmen her! Giovane teologo non fare come in rue de Fouarre Dove si produceva amore si produceva per Dio E arnesi per dimostrarne l'esistenza, Che già mostrava la sola competenza Signori teologi basta, ricucite Ancora una cosa Mente a Ockam prego: Dio differisce dalla pietra Perchè questa, dice, è finita La teologia vi invita Anzi vi impone di Immaginare Una pietra infinita Camice, prego L'esistenza di Dio © 1995 Franco Battiato & Manlio Sgalambro "L'esistenza di Dio" critiques and makes fun of philosophical and theological arguments that claim to demonstrate the existence of God by human means, to know the infinite through the finite. According to William of Ockam, theology can't be considered a science, there being no connection between reason and faith. Hence the need to "imagine an infinite stone," a phrase taken from Sgalambro's own 1993 work Theological Dialogue. The German lyrics, recited by the writer Helena Janeczek, are taken from Sgalambro's 1987 book Treatise of Impiety. The music that underlies the Italian lyrics are borrowed from a traditional Romanian song, "Rind de hore."

Young theologian doesn’t do like in Rue de Fouarre where love was produced, it was produced for God. And tools for demonstrating his existence, that already showed the only competence. 17-year-old Lessing (Gotthold Ephraim) arrives in Leipzig to do theology. He first learns the keyboard and dance, the distinction and the distance. Shirt, please! The theologian prepares himself for the acts of his profession. Behold, no look a little lower, here you will see exactly how God is made. The attribute “good” delimits a space, marks a distance. The patient one can’t wait. One proceeds to regulate. Dissection. Shirt, please! Gentlemen, anatomy! Ready, scalpel. Pinch here! Young theologian doesn’t do like in Rue de Fouarre where love was produced, it was produced for God. And tools for demonstrating his existence, that already showed the only competence. Theologians, enough, resew. One more thing lies to Ockam, I pray: God differs from stone because it, he says, is finite. Theology invites you, actually commands you, to imagine an infinite stone. Shirt, please. English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser L'ombrella e la macchina da cucire was released in 1995. It was recorded at Battiato's home using only electronic instruments, and for him it was somewhat of a return to the musical experimentation that characterized his 1970s work. The lyrics were written by Manlio Sgalambro, the Sicilian philosopher who said that, for him, Hegel's The Phenomenology of Spirit sung like music in his ears. References to philosophy and literature abound; the title of the album is taken from a line by the French poet Isidore Ducasse: "Beautiful as a chance encounter between a sewing maching and an umbrella on an operating table." This line, according to Max Ernst, is the key to understanding surrealist poetry - "the search for beauty through the pairing of two seemingly irreconcilable realities." Battiato felt liberated by not having to write lyrics, and he was stimulated to explore and discover new musical realms by the different aesthetic that Sgalambro brought to wordsmithing, one that flows from a man in many ways his opposite. Sgalambro described it this way: "Spiritual, transcendent, ascetic the first [Battiato]. Materialist, fleeting, anti-poetic, even cynical, the second [Sgalambro]."

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