P. D. Q. Bach (1807-1742)

[febnyc]

Although out of the normal purview of this board, it nevertheless begs mention:

One of the unalloyed joys of my younger days was attendance at the annual concert, for years at Carnegie Hall and afterwards at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, of the latest discoveries from the catalog of music composed by P. D. Q. Bach - the last and least-known (the more he wrote, the more unknown he became) of Johann Sebastian's twenty-odd offspring.  The famed musicologist, Professor Peter Schickele, head of the music pathology department of the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, would introduce these works and, indeed, perform them - many on some of the strange instruments for which they originally were composed.

Wikipedia has a paragraph on P.D.Q.'s unusual instrumentation:

To illustrate the work of his uncovered composer, Schickele invented a range of rather unusual instruments. The most complicated of these is the Hardart, a variety of tone-generating devices mounted on the frame of an "automat", a coin-operated food dispenser. The automat is used in the Concerto for Horn and Hardart, a play on the name of proprietors Horn & Hardart, who pioneered the North American use of the Automat. Schickele also invented the "dill piccolo" for playing sour notes, the "left-handed sewer flute", the "tromboon", the "lasso d'amore", the double-reed slide music stand, which he described as having "a range of major third and even less expressiveness," the "tuba mirum", a flexible tube filled with wine, and the "pastaphone", an uncooked tube of manicotti pasta played as a horn. And then there was the extensively described but (so far as is known) never demonstrated über klavier or super piano, with a keyboard ranging from sounds which only dogs can hear down to sounds which only whales can make. Sample sheet music was provided in P.D.Q.'s unauthorized autobiography. P.D.Q's 1965 Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons demonstrated the inherent musical qualities of everyday objects in ways not equally agreeable to all who listen to them.

These days the Professor, now 76 years old, does not tour as widely as he once did.  I once bumped into him on West End Avenue in Manhattan - as he was hurrying along to a concert - yes, dressed in his dilapidated tuxedo and construction boots.

Of course, Prof Schickele has made many recordings of P.D.Q.'s music, but for some reason they fail for me to come anywhere near the impact of the former live performances.  And he has composed his own, "serious," music - of which I have a CD of string quartets and they're quite good.

Thanks, Professor, for all the memories!   

[Mark Thomas]

The recordings I have of Schickele introducing performances of PDQs music are a perennial joy and I recommend them to anyone with a sense of musical humour. Much funnier and cleverer than Hoffnung or Victor Borge IMHO.

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

Of course, Prof Schickele has made many recordings of P.D.Q.'s music, but for some reason they fail for me to come anywhere near the impact of the former live performances.  And he has composed his own, "serious," music - of which I have a CD of string quartets and they're quite good.

Thanks, Professor, for all the memories!   

One of the great joys of my musical youth was discovering Schickele's own second piano quintet when it was played live on NPR's Performance Today - I think it was by the Lark Quartet, the work's dedicatees, along with Schickele himself on piano.  One of the violinists lost a string in the middle of the second movement, and they had to cut it due to time constraints.  Some years later I bought a recording of the complete piece, and it remains one of my favorite pieces of American chamber music.

To that end, there are four composers whose music I will purchase sight-unseen (as it were) because I know I'll enjoy them, and Schickele is one of them - I have a goodly amount of chamber music and a couple of orchestral pieces, and love (almost) every minute of it all.

[Amphissa]

Despite the many wonders of the PDQ Bach recordings, I agree that there is something special about the live performances. Seeing Schickele in action playing these instruments, singing roles and introducing the pieces is great fun. I still have the old LPs of his music that I bought years ago, and still remember well the concerts I attended. He is one of the real "characters" of music.

For those who have never seen it before, I highly recommend the DVD of his opera "The Abduction of Figaro." There are parodies of various Mozart operas aplenty, but for me, this is the American equivalent of Gilbert & Sullivan. I first saw this on the old Bravo television network, which broadcast the premier performance from Minneapolis. I taped the audio (broadcast glitches and all) and still laugh out loud whenever I listen to it..

However, since that same performance is available on DVD (in much better quality), I can't post it. In fact, all PDQ Bach recordings that I'm aware of are still available, so I have nothing to post in the Downloads.

[febnyc]

Thanks for those comments.  Apparently, P.D.Q.'s music has attracted at least four or five devotees!  His papa never would have dreamed of such notoriety for this unconventional son.

I recall that Professor Schickele often would open the concerts by announcing to the audience that "there has been a change in the program."  Then he would instruct everyone to turn to page (whatever) in their concert booklets, and he'd have found a misplaced comma or misspelled word.  "That semicolon should be a period - please note the change," he would say.  We all knew what was coming from the very first, but it never failed to get a laugh from the assembled fans.

Good stuff.

[Latvian]

I never did attend any of Schickele's PDQ Bach concerts, unfortunately, but I did hear him give a very funny talk at a music convention. Afterwards, I had the rare privilige of meeting him in person -- in the men's room!

Somewhere among my undigitized cassette tapes, I have an otherwise unavailable piece by Peter Schickele (as himself, not his alter ego). If I can find it I'll upload sometime.

[JimL]

The physics teacher at my high school had a huge sound system with a diamond needle phonograph and gigantic speakers suspended from the ceiling at the front of the class.  During lunch we would bring various LPs, which he would play for us on certain days of the week.  I turned several of the other kids on to some of my unsung LPs (the Sgambati PC, the Raff PC with Cooper, etc.)  Somebody had a few PDQ Bach records, and that was my introduction to him.  Remember the play-by-play of the first movement of Beethoven's 5th?  Hysterical!  This is also how I learned about Monty Python.  We could use more teachers like Bill Layton nowadays.

[Amphissa]

Schickele adhered to Duke Ellington's maxim that "if it sounds good, it is good." He hosted a serious series on National Public Radio, which I caught on rare occasions and wish I had taped.

[febnyc]

Enjoy this performance of PDQ's Konzertschnitcke for Two Violins Mit Orchestra - starring Itzhak Perlman, the Boston Pops conducted by John Williams and, on the second violin part, a substitute for the originally scheduled soloist:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQkRs3Ek7Iw

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMSEPUuNP8k&feature=related

[Christo]

Terrific, big fun!