# P.D.Q. Bach



## Albert7

Why not since you have a lot of wonderful hits and commentary:


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## PetrB

Isn't there a Peter Schickele guestbook page already?

It would be a shame if he were remembered only for his jokes and not some of the arranging and original writing, like he did on this project with Joan Baez:
http://www.schickele.com/shoppe/psrec/baptism.htm


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## Taggart

PetrB said:


> Isn't there a Peter Schickele guestbook page already?


Nope. Last time he got a mention on here was http://www.talkclassical.com/35286-insufficiently-modern-composers-2.html#post772963 on December 8 2014.


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## Polyphemus

albertfallickwang said:


> Why not since you have a lot of wonderful hits and commentary:


Never heard of this composer (?). Not quite sure what the hell it was but I liked it.


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## Taggart

P D Q Bach is the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. As PetrB points out, Peter Schickele developed a five-decade-long career, performing the "discovered" works of P D Q Bach.


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## Polyphemus

Thanks Taggart I will have to put my research hat on for both PDQ & Peter Schickele. Thanks again


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## Weston

I have some of Schickele's chamber works. They are listenable, but his humorous stuff is really much better to my ears. I love his "Unbegun Symphony," which for some reason is penned by Schickele, not P.D.Q.


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## Headphone Hermit

PDQ - as in 'pretty damn quick' - just about captures it :lol:


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## bharbeke

Here is something I found very humorous:






It's like sports commentary on Beethoven's Fifth.


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## MoonlightSonata

One of my favourite composers! A shame he's not more often discussed academically.


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## hpowders

Meanwhile, PDQ's creator Prof. Peter Schickele, is a pretty fine composer in his own right.


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## Weston

I hope he still is.


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## Manxfeeder

Peter Schickele was also a great radio host. My family used to listen to Schickele Mix every week back when it was on. He had a very entertaining and clever way of presenting music appreciation.


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## Albert7

Manxfeeder said:


> Peter Schickele was also a great radio host. My family used to listen to Schickele Mix every week back when it was on. He had a very entertaining and clever way of presenting music appreciation.


Do we have anyone else in the younger generation who does this too?


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## Guest

*That Other Bach*















When I first started listening to PDQ Bach in the 70s, he was strictly relegated to comedy (even though I considered it avant-garde). But now he gets serious classical treatment. His more illustrious father would be proud/envious/astonished (circle one).





This is actually excellent!










This is often played in churches now.


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## Polyphemus

Is P D Q Bach really Victor Borge on Acid ?


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## Antiquarian

I enjoy P.D.Q. Bach, but a little bit of Peter Shickele goes a long way, at least for me. I liked some of early stuff (on the Vanguard label).


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## Guest

Oh! Calcutta! is an avant-garde theatrical revue, created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in London in 1970. It ran in London for over 3,900 performances, and in New York initially for 1,314. Revivals enjoyed even longer runs, including a Broadway revival that ran for 5,959 performances, making the show the longest-running revue in Broadway history at the time.

As of 2012, its revival was still the seventh longest-running show in Broadway history, the second longest-running revival, after Chicago, and the fourth longest-running American production ever on Broadway, after Chicago, A Chorus Line and The Lion King.

The show sparked considerable controversy at the time, because it featured extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female. The title is taken from a painting by Clovis Trouille, itself a pun on "O quel cul t'as!" French for "What an **** you have!"

Tynan had hoped that Harold Pinter would direct the production, in order to give it avant-garde legitimacy, but Pinter declined. Sketches were written by, amongst others, Nobel prize winner Samuel Beckett, John Lennon, Sam Shepard, Leonard Melfi, Edna O'Brien, Jules Feiffer, and Tynan himself, and featured the cast naked. Peter Schickele (aka "PDQ Bach"), Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden were the revue's composers, known as The Open Window. Beckett's contribution, Breath, was used as a Prologue in the original New York staging, but Beckett eventually withdrew permission for its use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!_Calcutta!

Although not critically well-received, one scene in the play was used for a cover for a 1975 issue of _National Lampoon_ magazine which turned out to be perhaps the mag's most popular and certainly got my 10th-grader attention (it's pretty racy, folks, so don't click if you're easily offended):

http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9r8akE2Lj1qad0yco1_1280.jpg


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## Albert7

A most wonderful composer in fact!  Satire or scholarly, he is still key for me.


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## rsikora

I like his Concerto for Horn and Hardart. My personal favorite work of his is the piano concerto


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## Weird Heather

I have always loved musical jokes and satire. In the realm of popular music, Spike Jones and "Weird Al" Yankovic are masters at making fun of popular songs, and Peter Schickele, a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach, does a fine job with classical music. (Incidentally, Spike Jones recorded a few entertainingly mangled performances of popular classical pieces. I'll have to post about his worthwhile efforts in some other thread.)

It is hard for me to know where to start. I have collected most of the P.D.Q. Bach albums, and they are all great fun. In the Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle, and Balloons, different parts of the bagpipe are played in each movement, and in the finale, the full bagpipe roars to life to great effect. The 1712 Overture is a hilariously corrupted version of Tchaikovsky's excellent, but overplayed, 1812 Overture. The Missa Hilarious is a raucous parody of the numerous mass settings that have been composed over the centuries.

Perhaps his magnum opus is The Abduction of Figaro, a full scale grand opera that was fully staged by the Minnesota Opera (and is available on DVD). It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. People who are familiar with opera, and especially with the operas that he parodies, would surely get a kick out of it (unless they consider opera to be too sacred or exalted to be subjected to such treatment).

For me, nothing is sacred, and even music that I love is fair game. Musical parodies help to knock specific works and traditions down from the pedestals that people have constructed for them, and they can help us to appreciate the originals more while also laughing at the parodies. Peter Schickele obviously has a great love and understanding of classical music; if he didn't, his parodies would never have succeeded.


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## KenOC

Spike Jones does Poet and Peasant Overture.


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## jenspen

I've just come across Rainer Hersch:


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## Pugg

jenspen said:


> I've just come across Rainer Hersch:


Thanks for sharing this with us.


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## Strange Magic

We must not forget the contributions of Gerard Hoffnung and his notorious Hoffnung Music Festivals in further subjecting classical music to ridicule and disrespect: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoffnung_Music_Festival


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## jenspen

The mention of Hoffnung put me in mind of what his contemporary, Michael Flanders, did to the Mozart Horn Concerto ("Ill Wind"):


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