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RIP: Prof. Peter Schickele, aged 88
Jan. 19th, 2024 01:29 pm*sigh*
Peter Schickele was a brilliant composer, having made over 100 symphonic works of various sizes, many of which were 'discoveries' by the little known lesser member of the Bach family, P.D.Q.
I always remember my introduction to PDQ Bach through an album called Live and On The Air. It was a collection of skits, one of which was an announcer suffering an increasing amount of distortion, culminating in an explosion and then a little voice in the distance explaining that the rear wall of the studio seems to be gone and 'we'll be back in a minute'. There's also a wonderful video of an opera that he made, referenced below, called The Abduction of Figero, conducted by Schickele. One of the mezzos is singing something or other (been quite a while since I last watched it) and she gets mad, culminates in her singing 'In fact, I'm not even going to sing my aria!' and she storms off the stage. Camera cuts to Peter at the podium, leafing through the score, he addresses the orchestra, and says 'Okay, let's skip to the letter Q'.
I always wanted to see him perform live, he was quite an entertaining performer when doing the PDQ material. But he had a problem with PDQ: he was a highly-trained composer, and he had problems when wanting to perform his own material. People were waiting on the edge of their seats for something funny to happen, for the twist! He was kind of trapped by the success of his 'discovered' works. I heard at some of his works he rappelled or bungee jumped from the rafters to his piano to start the show.
From the Muppet Wiki:
Peter Schickele (1935-2024) was a composer and pianist, perhaps best known for his satirical alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach. In the early seasons of Sesame Street, Schickele scored several live action films produced by Mark Sadan and Kirk Smallwood, including three riddle films ("Tomato," "Skin" and "Tire") and "Where the Garbage Goes."
A classically trained musician, Schickele attended Juilliard with Philip Glass. As P.D.Q. Bach, an obscure and questionably talented son of Johann Sebastian Bach, Schickele created a complex history of continually unearthed "lost" recordings and compositions. Notable works include "Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion," "Classical Rap, S. 96th St," "Toot Suite," "Canine Cantata," and the operas The Stoned Guest and Oedipus Tex. He introduced his P.D.Q. Bach concerts as "Professor" Peter Schickele of the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople.
Under his own name and identity, Schickele co-wrote music and lyrics for the musical Oh! Calcutta! (with Robert Dennis), arranged songs for Joan Baez and Buffy Sainte-Marie, and scored the sci-fi film Silent Running and John Korty's films The Crazy-Quilt and Funnyman. Animation projects included scoring and narrating a video adaptation of Maurice Sendak's work and serving as musical arranger for the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment of Disney's Fantasia 2000.
We were fortunate to have his marvelous humor for as long as we did. He made opera and classical music approachable to all by making fun of it. I'm very sad at his passing, but oh so very glad that he was here, at least for a time.
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Peter_Schickele
Peter Schickele was a brilliant composer, having made over 100 symphonic works of various sizes, many of which were 'discoveries' by the little known lesser member of the Bach family, P.D.Q.
I always remember my introduction to PDQ Bach through an album called Live and On The Air. It was a collection of skits, one of which was an announcer suffering an increasing amount of distortion, culminating in an explosion and then a little voice in the distance explaining that the rear wall of the studio seems to be gone and 'we'll be back in a minute'. There's also a wonderful video of an opera that he made, referenced below, called The Abduction of Figero, conducted by Schickele. One of the mezzos is singing something or other (been quite a while since I last watched it) and she gets mad, culminates in her singing 'In fact, I'm not even going to sing my aria!' and she storms off the stage. Camera cuts to Peter at the podium, leafing through the score, he addresses the orchestra, and says 'Okay, let's skip to the letter Q'.
I always wanted to see him perform live, he was quite an entertaining performer when doing the PDQ material. But he had a problem with PDQ: he was a highly-trained composer, and he had problems when wanting to perform his own material. People were waiting on the edge of their seats for something funny to happen, for the twist! He was kind of trapped by the success of his 'discovered' works. I heard at some of his works he rappelled or bungee jumped from the rafters to his piano to start the show.
From the Muppet Wiki:
Peter Schickele (1935-2024) was a composer and pianist, perhaps best known for his satirical alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach. In the early seasons of Sesame Street, Schickele scored several live action films produced by Mark Sadan and Kirk Smallwood, including three riddle films ("Tomato," "Skin" and "Tire") and "Where the Garbage Goes."
A classically trained musician, Schickele attended Juilliard with Philip Glass. As P.D.Q. Bach, an obscure and questionably talented son of Johann Sebastian Bach, Schickele created a complex history of continually unearthed "lost" recordings and compositions. Notable works include "Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion," "Classical Rap, S. 96th St," "Toot Suite," "Canine Cantata," and the operas The Stoned Guest and Oedipus Tex. He introduced his P.D.Q. Bach concerts as "Professor" Peter Schickele of the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople.
Under his own name and identity, Schickele co-wrote music and lyrics for the musical Oh! Calcutta! (with Robert Dennis), arranged songs for Joan Baez and Buffy Sainte-Marie, and scored the sci-fi film Silent Running and John Korty's films The Crazy-Quilt and Funnyman. Animation projects included scoring and narrating a video adaptation of Maurice Sendak's work and serving as musical arranger for the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment of Disney's Fantasia 2000.
We were fortunate to have his marvelous humor for as long as we did. He made opera and classical music approachable to all by making fun of it. I'm very sad at his passing, but oh so very glad that he was here, at least for a time.
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Peter_Schickele
