"Professor" Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also hosted a long-running weekly radio program called Schickele Mix.
P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines parodies of musicological scholarship, the conventions of Baroque and Classical music, and slapstick comedy. The name "P. D. Q." is a parody of the three-part names given to some members of the Bach family that are commonly reduced to initials, such as C. P. E., for Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach; PDQ is an initialism for "pretty damned quick".
The Tennessee Bassoon Quartet, formed in 1985, consists of bassoonists Keith McClelland, James Lotz, James Lassen and Michael Benjamin. The four, from Knoxville and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, formed the group to provide additional performance opportunities for their bassoon talents. They have performed primarily in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky with a repertoire that includes Renaissance music, jazz, Gilbert and Sullivan, Saint-Saëns, and Scott Joplin.
The Septet in E-flat major for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass, Op. 20, by Ludwig van Beethoven, was sketched out in 1799, completed, and first performed in 1800 and published in 1802. The score contains the notation: "Der Kaiserin Maria Theresia gewidmet". It was one of Beethoven’s most popular works during his lifetime; much to the composer's dismay. Several years later, Beethoven even wished the score to have been destroyed, saying: "That damn work! I wish it were burned!"
The ”Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion” is a piece of music written by Peter Schickele, touted as a composition of the fictional P.D.Q. Bach. It consists of 4 movements, and is intended to be humorous to listen to. The players are instructed to play the piece sloppily, especially the fourth movement. The whole piece is about 10–11 minutes long. It was released on the album Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion.
Portrait of P. D. Q. Bach was released in 1977 on Vanguard Records. The album features mostly the work of Peter Schickele writing as P. D. Q. Bach, with one contribution under his own name.
The Ill-Conceived P. D. Q. Bach Anthology is a collection of works by Peter Schickele writing as P. D. Q. Bach originally recorded on the Telarc label by the composer.
An Hysteric Return: P.D.Q. Bach at Carnegie Hall is live recording of a P. D. Q. Bach concert in Carnegie Hall and was released on Vanguard Records in 1966.
The Intimate P. D. Q. Bach is "a live recording of The Intimate P.D.Q. Bach stage show, featuring Professor Peter Schickele and the Semi-Pro Musica Antiqua" and was released on Vanguard Records in 1973. Many of the performer credits are humorous, and as with all P.D.Q. Bach recordings, the "S" numbers are fictitious and humorous. The cover art is a parody of the 1901 painting Kreutzer Sonata by René-Xavier Prinet.
Music You Can't Get Out of Your Head is recording of the music by Peter Schickele writing as P. D. Q. Bach. The album describes itself as "P.D.Q. Bach’s answer to Haydn’s "Farewell" Symphony" and includes "all the music from The Civilian Barber that's been discovered." The album was released on Vanguard Records in 1982.
A Little Nightmare Music is an opera in "one irrevocable act" by Peter Schickele under the pseudonym he uses for parodies and comical works P. D. Q. Bach. The title of the work refers to the English translation of Mozart's famous Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The opera is described as being "based on a dream he had December 4, 1791, the night that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died and Antonio Salieri didn't." The opera was "newly exhumed" at Carnegie Hall on December 27, 1982. It was later recorded with the premiere cast and released on CD by Vanguard Records in 1983. The album also includes two other works by P. D. Q. Bach: an octet and a parody of Handel's Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks, Royal Firewater Musick.
1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults is a classical music album released in 1989 by Telarc Records. The album contains works by P. D. Q. Bach, the alter ego of Professor Peter Schickele. It is scored for "really big orchestra and some not-quite so big ensembles, plus unique on-location introductions, spoken on the very historical spots where the actual history happened".
Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities was released in 1990 by Telarc Records. The album contains works by Peter Schickele under his alter-ego of P. D. Q. Bach and won a 1990 Grammy Award for 'Best Comedy Performance'.
Two Pianos Are Better Than One was released in 1994 by Telarc Records. The album contains works by Peter Schickele, sometimes under the pseudonym P. D. Q. Bach, including the "Concerto for Two Pianos vs. Orchestra, and three other works that don't require even one piano."
P.D.Q. Bach in Houston: We Have a Problem! is a live performance celebrating 40 years of P. D. Q. Bach. This performance features Professor Peter Schickele with Orchestra X conducted by Peter Jacoby. It includes never-before-recorded performances of "Trumpet Involuntary" movement of Iphigenia in Brooklyn, and also the rounds Odden und Enden.
The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach (1807–1742)? is a book by Prof. Peter Schickele chronicling the life of fictitious composer P. D. Q. Bach.
P.D.Q. Bach & Peter Schickele: The Jekyll & Hyde Tour was released in 2007 by Telarc Records. The album contains works by Peter Schickele, sometimes as his alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach, including a collection of vocal works and a string quartet. It is a live recording of the "Jekyll & Hyde" Tour.
The Echo Sonata for Two Unfriendly Groups of Instruments is a satirical instrumental work written by Peter Schickele under the pseudonym of P.D.Q. Bach, whom Schickele studies as a "scholar".
Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons is a satirical work authored by Peter Schickele under the pseudonym P.D.Q. Bach, whose works and life Schickele purports to study. It is a concerto featuring the aforementioned bagpipes, bicycle and balloons as solo musical instruments accompanied by a string orchestra.
