The play on words in Leif Segerstam’s death notice attracts international attention: “Leif Live Leave Leaf Le if.”

A big one a conductor-composer with an international career Leif Segerstamin death at the age of 80 has been noted with extensive obituaries also abroad The New York Timesia down to.

International attention has managed to collect as well last Sunday in Helsingin Sanomat the very cheesy wordplay of the published obituary: Leif Live Leave Leaf Le if.

“The verse in the obituary was shaped by Leif’s way of playing with words and speaking several languages ​​at the same time”, his son Jan Segerstam explain.

“With puns, he was looking for connection and a shared aha experience, a smile or a thought.”

Leif Live Segerstam developed the concept after noticing that live broadcasts in special news situations started to be referred to as live.

“Leif was always an experience, and he sought common experience in music. That’s why Leif Live contained the idea of ​​something special that happens in the present moment.”

Leave refers to Segerstam’s passing and Leaf to the sheet music that remains.

“Leif created music from scores, Leif composed for sheet music. From the sheet of the score, everyone can create the music that creates their own musical experience, that was Leif’s dream. Everyone makes music.”

When a multilingual pun came out of Leif’s mouth, he often waited a moment and watched to see if it was understood. At best it was understood and the parties were smiling.

“‘Leif said Leif often himself. It is, of course, ‘smile if’ in a combination of Swedish and English,” explains Jan Segerstam.

And that’s how the obituary’s play on words is explained.

“To sum it up multilingually: something unique is gone, but lives through us when we experience and interpret music, when a smile is in order. Leif Live Leave Leaf Le if.”