The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Classical · 1988 · 21 tracks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

A chamber opera exploring neurological mystery through clockwork piano and driving strings. Intellectual, rhythmic, and deeply empathetic minimalism.

1988 · CBS

An intellectual and rhythmic journey through the fragility of human perception.

Tracklist · 21 Tracks

01

Prologue: Neurology’s Favourite Term

2:46

02

Traffic. Street Sounds

2:29

03

[That's Why] I’m Here

4:39

04

Can I Help?

1:41

05

And Yet … and Yet

1:18

06

You Can See Very Clearly

2:03

07

What Do You See Now?

2:45

08

Where Was His Hat?

1:39

09

… [Mistake His] Wife for a Hat?

2:21

10

Bösendorfer!

1:37

11

Ich grolle nicht

2:20

12

But What of the Parietal Regions?

2:27

13

What’s the Time?

3:07

14

What Is This? … It’s a Square

3:08

15

What Is This? … Six Inches in Length

1:57

16

Now, What Is This?

2:02

17

Pawn to King 4

2:52

18

From Our End, High Up Here

2:17

19

Your Husband’s a Painter, I See

5:14

20

Ach! Tea from China, Lovely Fragrance

2:09

21

I Cannot Tell You What Is Wrong

6:12

Moments Worth Listening For

The sudden, jarring shift in rhythm when the protagonist attempts to identify a simple glove as a geometric shape

The haunting integration of Schumann's 'Ich grolle nicht' into Nyman's relentless, driving minimalist framework

The final track's slow dissolution into a devastatingly quiet piano melody that feels like a fading memory

Where This Album Departs

How does The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat sound next to the rest of Michael Nyman's catalogue?

Self Examination+4.0σ

The writing leans far further into self examination than the rest of the catalogue.

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