The foremost classical music satirist of all time
January 17, 2024 5:59 PM Subscribe
Peter Schickele, aka Professor Schickele, Head of the Department of Musical Pathology at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, sometimes performing as P.D.Q. Bach, the "pimple on the face of music," longtime host of the public radio show Schickele Mix, died yesterday at his home in Bearsville, NY. He was 88.
Oh no!
I really didn't realize he was still alive, but I'm glad he had a good long run.
I really loved his stuff. As a classical music nerd growing up, studying both piano and bass in orchestra, I got all his inside jokes. They were very broad, but still very inside, and that was perfect for making me feel like a smart music nerd during the time when that was important to me.
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posted by hippybear at 6:02 PM on January 17 [28 favorites]
I really didn't realize he was still alive, but I'm glad he had a good long run.
I really loved his stuff. As a classical music nerd growing up, studying both piano and bass in orchestra, I got all his inside jokes. They were very broad, but still very inside, and that was perfect for making me feel like a smart music nerd during the time when that was important to me.
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posted by hippybear at 6:02 PM on January 17 [28 favorites]
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I can't say that I truly listened, but I always enjoyed having his show on.
Also, the idea that a guy could make a career out of parodying musicology lectures seems to me like something from a world infinitely more sophisticated and yet even more infinitely innocent than our own, and I am sad about the loss of that world.
posted by gauche at 6:05 PM on January 17 [53 favorites]
I can't say that I truly listened, but I always enjoyed having his show on.
Also, the idea that a guy could make a career out of parodying musicology lectures seems to me like something from a world infinitely more sophisticated and yet even more infinitely innocent than our own, and I am sad about the loss of that world.
posted by gauche at 6:05 PM on January 17 [53 favorites]
Oh gosh. I am sad. You have to know music in your bones to write pastiche as good as Schickele's.
I'm glad I got to see him perform his Beethoven's 5th schtick live, back when I was in college. He was great, and the football coach (seriously!) drafted to do the color commentary next to him was... hilariously bewildered.
Belting the shepherdess's song from Oedipus Tex in his honor tonight.
posted by humbug at 6:16 PM on January 17 [12 favorites]
I'm glad I got to see him perform his Beethoven's 5th schtick live, back when I was in college. He was great, and the football coach (seriously!) drafted to do the color commentary next to him was... hilariously bewildered.
Belting the shepherdess's song from Oedipus Tex in his honor tonight.
posted by humbug at 6:16 PM on January 17 [12 favorites]
🎵 instead of a .
I never even learned to read music, but Oedipus Tex was formative.
posted by Suedeltica at 6:22 PM on January 17 [6 favorites]
I never even learned to read music, but Oedipus Tex was formative.
posted by Suedeltica at 6:22 PM on January 17 [6 favorites]
I’m on my IPad, so linking is hard, but look on YouTube for Einstein on the Fritz, his parody of Philip Glass. The story goes that Glass was there for the premiere and laughed heartily.
posted by wittgenstein at 6:22 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
posted by wittgenstein at 6:22 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
He was a wonderful satirist. He'll be missed.
(JS) "Bach had 20 children because his organ had no stops."
posted by blob at 6:28 PM on January 17 [31 favorites]
(JS) "Bach had 20 children because his organ had no stops."
posted by blob at 6:28 PM on January 17 [31 favorites]
A legend. New Horizons in Music Appreciation, in addition to being hilarious, is the best introductory lecture on sonata form I've ever encountered.
posted by dfan at 6:31 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
posted by dfan at 6:31 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
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I hope the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople puts up a proper memorial.
posted by wanderingmind at 6:34 PM on January 17 [9 favorites]
I hope the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople puts up a proper memorial.
posted by wanderingmind at 6:34 PM on January 17 [9 favorites]
One of my favorites of his was Eine kleine nichtmusik. I was always surprised by the level of connections he was able to draw between different idioms that seemingly had nothing to do with each other, and this piece was no exception.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:46 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:46 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
I never got to meet him but one of my teachers was his roommate in college and SWORE that Schickele was the original author of the lyric "this is the symphony that Schubert wrote and never finished" to go with the Unfinished Symphony and provided proof by singing the next four phrases' worth of lyrics, which of course I have forgotten.
One of the highlights of my performing career was to be solo trumpet for a performance of Iphigenia in Brooklyn, which begins with the conductor coming onstage and becoming irate because the trumpet is missing. The trumpet is then instructed to bang on the outside door of the theater for admission. With great commotion and excuses you make your way to the stage and open your case only to learn, to your horror, that you have forgotten your instrument and have only a mouthpiece. "It will be FINE," you are instructed to tell the conductor. Then you get to play a multi-movement trumpet obbligato in a style somewhere between Bach and Handel by tooting on the mouthpiece. It's glorious.
🎵
posted by range at 6:50 PM on January 17 [38 favorites]
One of the highlights of my performing career was to be solo trumpet for a performance of Iphigenia in Brooklyn, which begins with the conductor coming onstage and becoming irate because the trumpet is missing. The trumpet is then instructed to bang on the outside door of the theater for admission. With great commotion and excuses you make your way to the stage and open your case only to learn, to your horror, that you have forgotten your instrument and have only a mouthpiece. "It will be FINE," you are instructed to tell the conductor. Then you get to play a multi-movement trumpet obbligato in a style somewhere between Bach and Handel by tooting on the mouthpiece. It's glorious.
🎵
posted by range at 6:50 PM on January 17 [38 favorites]
🎵
posted by UhOhChongo! at 7:03 PM on January 17
posted by UhOhChongo! at 7:03 PM on January 17
I first encountered PDQ Bach in 7th grade chorus when one day the teacher, with great delight, had us listen to the Concerto for Horn and Hardart (a title I did not fully appreciate until later). Shortly afterward I got the "Wurst of PDQ Bach" album and happily listened to it many times. I think my favorite is still the Schleptet.
Everything I know about classical music I learned from Saturday morning cartoons and PDQ Bach. And I like it that way!
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:11 PM on January 17 [10 favorites]
Everything I know about classical music I learned from Saturday morning cartoons and PDQ Bach. And I like it that way!
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:11 PM on January 17 [10 favorites]
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Concerto for Horn and Hardart
And
My bonny lass she smelleth
posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 7:15 PM on January 17 [4 favorites]
Concerto for Horn and Hardart
And
My bonny lass she smelleth
posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 7:15 PM on January 17 [4 favorites]
Yes, and The Seasonings [18m], lines of which run through my head completely unbidden and rent free just about anytime I'm cooking. Tarragon of virtue is full. Onions have I, but savory have I none... "Then thou art an un-savory rap-scallion!"
posted by hippybear at 7:20 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:20 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
My favorite PDQ Bach piece is Black Forest Bluegrass, largely because baroque + bluegrass works surprisingly well.
I'm happy I saw Schickele twice. Long, long ago.
Who's going to go to Wikipedia and make his dates 2024-1935?
posted by zompist at 7:23 PM on January 17 [11 favorites]
I'm happy I saw Schickele twice. Long, long ago.
Who's going to go to Wikipedia and make his dates 2024-1935?
posted by zompist at 7:23 PM on January 17 [11 favorites]
Who's going to go to Wikipedia and make his dates 2024-1935?
Anyone COULD do this. The question is, who has enough Wiki-clout to make it stick?
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on January 17 [8 favorites]
Anyone COULD do this. The question is, who has enough Wiki-clout to make it stick?
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on January 17 [8 favorites]
Oh no oh no oh no.
I learned so much music appreciation from Schickele Mix.
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posted by brainwane at 7:31 PM on January 17
I learned so much music appreciation from Schickele Mix.
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posted by brainwane at 7:31 PM on January 17
"And they're off with the 4-note theme!"
In my youth, my family would drive across half the country to visit relatives, and my parents controlled the tape deck. We had some agreeable staples, but my musicologist mother loved PDQ Bach. Schickele was the bulk of my classical music education after about 4th grade.
Side note: It's amazing what we listened to during 40-odd hours of driving back then. (And another 40-odd hours a few weeks later.)
posted by ptfe at 7:32 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
In my youth, my family would drive across half the country to visit relatives, and my parents controlled the tape deck. We had some agreeable staples, but my musicologist mother loved PDQ Bach. Schickele was the bulk of my classical music education after about 4th grade.
Side note: It's amazing what we listened to during 40-odd hours of driving back then. (And another 40-odd hours a few weeks later.)
posted by ptfe at 7:32 PM on January 17 [7 favorites]
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posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 7:47 PM on January 17
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 7:47 PM on January 17
I remember buying the sheet music to "The art of the Ground Round" back in high school. My favorite piece of his is the "Missa Hilarious".
Goodbye, Professor. You brought much joy into the world.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:52 PM on January 17
Goodbye, Professor. You brought much joy into the world.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:52 PM on January 17
Every time I listen to Beethoven's 5th, I always think "Is that a theme or a motif?"
My all time favorite moment on Schickele Mix was when during one of the Christmas episodes, Peter Schickele introduced the Fool's Song from Dimitri Shostakovich's incidental music to King Lear. He said, "You may be wondering why we're playing music from King Lear on this particular program. That's a good question, and here's the answer."
As the tagline from Schickele Mix said: All musics are created equal. Or, as Duke Ellington put it "If it sounds good, it is good."
Peter Schickele dedicated his life to proving that idea.
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posted by dannyboybell at 7:59 PM on January 17 [14 favorites]
My all time favorite moment on Schickele Mix was when during one of the Christmas episodes, Peter Schickele introduced the Fool's Song from Dimitri Shostakovich's incidental music to King Lear. He said, "You may be wondering why we're playing music from King Lear on this particular program. That's a good question, and here's the answer."
As the tagline from Schickele Mix said: All musics are created equal. Or, as Duke Ellington put it "If it sounds good, it is good."
Peter Schickele dedicated his life to proving that idea.
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posted by dannyboybell at 7:59 PM on January 17 [14 favorites]
A dear friend and ex introduced me to PDQ’s music, and my dear sister introduced me to Schickele Mix, the inavailability of which hurts every time I think about it, which is at least every year.
Tonic….. dominant….. tonic.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 8:03 PM on January 17
Tonic….. dominant….. tonic.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 8:03 PM on January 17
Playing his pieces in high school / college band was a hoot. It was clearly music for musicians and it always put a smile on my face!
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posted by Brassica oleracea at 8:07 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
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posted by Brassica oleracea at 8:07 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
Shout-out to Schickele's work for the Canadian Brass, e.g. "Hornsmoke." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk7iBt8EPmM
posted by humbug at 8:09 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]
posted by humbug at 8:09 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]
Discovering Schickele Mix when I was in college was such a revelation. I absorbed several of those episodes on Chicago radio before I discovered P.D.Q. Bach, which just exploded my brain. He was one of our generation's foremost satirists and humorists, and somehow managed to pull it off in such a good-natured, generous way.
posted by vverse23 at 8:11 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]
posted by vverse23 at 8:11 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]
🎵
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:39 PM on January 17
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:39 PM on January 17
I rarely . , but I . now.
posted by mollweide at 8:39 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 8:39 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
I didn't listen to much of his music, but I really enjoyed The Abduction of Figaro.
🎵
posted by Spike Glee at 9:00 PM on January 17 [2 favorites]
🎵
posted by Spike Glee at 9:00 PM on January 17 [2 favorites]
Oh no!
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I don’t listen to anything PDQ Bachish now (generally), but I grew up in a home where we listened to 95% orchestral music and where the only concerts I went to were symphonic. A sometimes staple radio show that injected a little bit of variety into the car, and I once saw him conduct; got a signed program and an eye roll when I told him it was the best concert I’d seen.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:20 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
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I don’t listen to anything PDQ Bachish now (generally), but I grew up in a home where we listened to 95% orchestral music and where the only concerts I went to were symphonic. A sometimes staple radio show that injected a little bit of variety into the car, and I once saw him conduct; got a signed program and an eye roll when I told him it was the best concert I’d seen.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:20 PM on January 17 [3 favorites]
TO CUR-RY FAV-OR
FAV-OR CUR-RY
I should NOT have listened to The Seasonings this evening because it will now be running through my brain for maybe a month.
By the leeks of Babylon
E-I-E-I-O
posted by hippybear at 9:43 PM on January 17 [4 favorites]
FAV-OR CUR-RY
I should NOT have listened to The Seasonings this evening because it will now be running through my brain for maybe a month.
By the leeks of Babylon
E-I-E-I-O
posted by hippybear at 9:43 PM on January 17 [4 favorites]
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The inventor of one of the greatest instruments, the tromboon.
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:05 PM on January 17 [8 favorites]
The inventor of one of the greatest instruments, the tromboon.
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:05 PM on January 17 [8 favorites]
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I was fortunate to work with PDQ Bach twice early in my career. My favorite memories are the Beethoven 5 announcing and trying to figure out how to play tromboon.
It was clear from his compositions that he had a deep knowledge of classical music, good composition and orchestration skills, and a wicked sense of humor.
I found Schickele Mix much later and was floored and delighted by his ability to explain and inform in a “serious” setting.
Thank you Prof. Schickele for everything.
posted by Warren Terra at 10:44 PM on January 17 [11 favorites]
I was fortunate to work with PDQ Bach twice early in my career. My favorite memories are the Beethoven 5 announcing and trying to figure out how to play tromboon.
It was clear from his compositions that he had a deep knowledge of classical music, good composition and orchestration skills, and a wicked sense of humor.
I found Schickele Mix much later and was floored and delighted by his ability to explain and inform in a “serious” setting.
Thank you Prof. Schickele for everything.
posted by Warren Terra at 10:44 PM on January 17 [11 favorites]
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I love PDQ Bach, but the first Schickele I put on this morning was Joan Baez' Joan, which he scored. The music is so inventive and fun, in the best possible way. For example, he treated Eleanor Rigby with the irreverant reverance he treated baroque music. Before that album, Schickele and Baez did a Christmas album and one last album that was a sort of a musical poetry recital. He was a remarkable composer, and I'm glad he could devote his life to his craft.
posted by Kattullus at 12:29 AM on January 18 [11 favorites]
I love PDQ Bach, but the first Schickele I put on this morning was Joan Baez' Joan, which he scored. The music is so inventive and fun, in the best possible way. For example, he treated Eleanor Rigby with the irreverant reverance he treated baroque music. Before that album, Schickele and Baez did a Christmas album and one last album that was a sort of a musical poetry recital. He was a remarkable composer, and I'm glad he could devote his life to his craft.
posted by Kattullus at 12:29 AM on January 18 [11 favorites]
I grew up listening to a couple of P.D.Q. Bach albums over and over. This is probably one reason why my family is so hard to understand.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:36 AM on January 18 [9 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:36 AM on January 18 [9 favorites]
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posted by From Bklyn at 1:53 AM on January 18
posted by From Bklyn at 1:53 AM on January 18
A legend. New Horizons in Music Appreciation , in addition to being hilarious, is the best introductory lecture on sonata form I've ever encountered.
I just listened to half of this with only the right-side ear bud in. It was funny that way, but much much better with the left-ear bud in & the music track running...
posted by chavenet at 2:12 AM on January 18 [2 favorites]
I just listened to half of this with only the right-side ear bud in. It was funny that way, but much much better with the left-ear bud in & the music track running...
posted by chavenet at 2:12 AM on January 18 [2 favorites]
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posted by Joey Michaels at 2:23 AM on January 18
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:23 AM on January 18
Howdy there! I'm Oedipus Tex.
You may have heard of my brother Rex.
Oh, I'm Oedipus Tex, that's what I said.
But my friends just call me Oed.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 2:33 AM on January 18 [8 favorites]
You may have heard of my brother Rex.
Oh, I'm Oedipus Tex, that's what I said.
But my friends just call me Oed.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 2:33 AM on January 18 [8 favorites]
♪
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:00 AM on January 18
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:00 AM on January 18
Count me in as another long-time fan of this man, first to compose for the tromboon, the hardart, and the lasso d'amore. He also taught me that in America, most people make omelets with two eggs, but in France, they make omelets with just one egg. And why is that, you may ask?
Because in France, one egg is un oeuf.
🎵
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:29 AM on January 18 [3 favorites]
Because in France, one egg is un oeuf.
🎵
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:29 AM on January 18 [3 favorites]
I was singing a bit from The Abduction of Figaro just the other day. ("My name is Captain Kadd / And I am very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very bad.")
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posted by kyrademon at 3:40 AM on January 18 [3 favorites]
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posted by kyrademon at 3:40 AM on January 18 [3 favorites]
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posted by mikelieman at 4:17 AM on January 18
posted by mikelieman at 4:17 AM on January 18
♪
posted by trip and a half at 5:15 AM on January 18
posted by trip and a half at 5:15 AM on January 18
I saw him once, I guess 45 years ago. Made his entrance by shimmying down a rope from the balcony.
Liked the instruments. My favorite is the left-handed sewer flute.
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posted by MtDewd at 6:22 AM on January 18 [5 favorites]
Liked the instruments. My favorite is the left-handed sewer flute.
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posted by MtDewd at 6:22 AM on January 18 [5 favorites]
We were lucky that our High School music & choir teachers were big PDQ fans, got indoctrinated early. Memorable: 'Tramarai' is a classic field recording/found sound piece. Also the Joan Baez connection is kinda funny in itself.
posted by ovvl at 6:33 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 6:33 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
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posted by calamari kid at 6:33 AM on January 18
posted by calamari kid at 6:33 AM on January 18
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Found a new-to-me appearance/performance/memoir by Peter Schickele from 2017.
Found a new-to-me appearance/performance/memoir by Peter Schickele from 2017.
Sunday, November 24, at 5pm:posted by ZeusHumms at 6:38 AM on January 18 [2 favorites]
An Evening with Peter Schickele
In 2017, The Fargo-Moorhead Symphony presented the North Dakota premiere of "Concerto for Simply Grand Piano," a new commission by composer Peter Schickele in his humorous mode. Schickele won two Grammy awards for his comedic classical music recordings by "P.D.Q. Bach." He came to Fargo for the occasion, and read to an appreciative audience (that included many old friends) a memoir of his years in the town.
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When I was young, his show, like Car Talk and Highway 61, was one of those that was reliably playing somewhere in the house when it was on. Even when I wasn't paying much attention, it made me comfortable and got me to smile. And like the others, when I was paying attention, it taught me a lot.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:44 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
When I was young, his show, like Car Talk and Highway 61, was one of those that was reliably playing somewhere in the house when it was on. Even when I wasn't paying much attention, it made me comfortable and got me to smile. And like the others, when I was paying attention, it taught me a lot.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:44 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
Such delightful stuff. I was lucky enough to see him perform a couple of times. I think the first time, he entered Boston Symphony Hall by clambering off a balcony.
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posted by rmd1023 at 6:45 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
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posted by rmd1023 at 6:45 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
I don't know what to say. I remember going to his Christmas concerts at Carnegie Hall with my brother and . . . it's hard to explain. I don't think that kind of humor exists anymore.
I mean Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice? Is there anyone left who even gets that joke?
Anyway. I'm sad, so here's the Quodlibet (one of his pieces with "not a single original theme in it") because I need to laugh and oh my God it makes me laugh so hard.
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posted by The Bellman at 7:09 AM on January 18 [4 favorites]
I mean Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice? Is there anyone left who even gets that joke?
Anyway. I'm sad, so here's the Quodlibet (one of his pieces with "not a single original theme in it") because I need to laugh and oh my God it makes me laugh so hard.
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posted by The Bellman at 7:09 AM on January 18 [4 favorites]
Aw, man. I was raised on Tom Lehrer, Pogo, and PDQ Bach. Too many favorites to mention, though Echo Sonata for Two Unfriendly Groups of Instruments hasn't been linked above, so there's that.
🎶
posted by Quasirandom at 7:21 AM on January 18 [5 favorites]
🎶
posted by Quasirandom at 7:21 AM on January 18 [5 favorites]
The Abduction of Figaro is on YouTube in its entirety.
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posted by hanov3r at 7:23 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
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posted by hanov3r at 7:23 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
I saw him as a gradeschooler back in the early 80s, and fondly remember (however inaccurately, as I was quite young) what was quite possibly the greatest concert entrance I'll ever hope to see.
My father had taken me to see him at some venue in Seattle that must have been a church or something at one point, as it had a pipe organ with a central console that rose up out of the orchestra pit like at Pizza & Pipes. I used to have my birthday parties at P&P, so I kind of took this feature for granted.
Anyway, the house lights dimmed, and Bach's Toccata in D started playing from the organ, and up rose a melodramatic organist in a grey fright-wig, swaying over the keys as he played. I was young, and I recognised the fugue, so I was probably not rolling my eyes as hard as the adults in the audience.
But then some engine revving comes from the lobby, competing with the organ. It got louder and louder, and then suddenly a follow spot clicked on toward the doors at the back of the central aisle. They slammed open, and in burst Schickele, striding to the middle of the spotlight dressed in a biker jacket that had tails (or perhaps he just had the leathers on over a tailcoat?).
He pulled out a comically large prop pistol, aimed it at the stage, and... BANG! The organist slumped down on the keys, making a raucous noise that resolved to a mild drone as the console sank back down into the pit and the pipes slowly lost their puff.
Schickele strode down the aisle, climbed onto the stage, and took the mic to begin the show.
The crowd went wild.
PDQ Bach scholarship will never be the same!
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posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 7:40 AM on January 18 [23 favorites]
My father had taken me to see him at some venue in Seattle that must have been a church or something at one point, as it had a pipe organ with a central console that rose up out of the orchestra pit like at Pizza & Pipes. I used to have my birthday parties at P&P, so I kind of took this feature for granted.
Anyway, the house lights dimmed, and Bach's Toccata in D started playing from the organ, and up rose a melodramatic organist in a grey fright-wig, swaying over the keys as he played. I was young, and I recognised the fugue, so I was probably not rolling my eyes as hard as the adults in the audience.
But then some engine revving comes from the lobby, competing with the organ. It got louder and louder, and then suddenly a follow spot clicked on toward the doors at the back of the central aisle. They slammed open, and in burst Schickele, striding to the middle of the spotlight dressed in a biker jacket that had tails (or perhaps he just had the leathers on over a tailcoat?).
He pulled out a comically large prop pistol, aimed it at the stage, and... BANG! The organist slumped down on the keys, making a raucous noise that resolved to a mild drone as the console sank back down into the pit and the pipes slowly lost their puff.
Schickele strode down the aisle, climbed onto the stage, and took the mic to begin the show.
The crowd went wild.
PDQ Bach scholarship will never be the same!
.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 7:40 AM on January 18 [23 favorites]
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posted by exlotuseater at 8:45 AM on January 18
posted by exlotuseater at 8:45 AM on January 18
"Welcome to another evening of fine music...and PDQ Bach."
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:52 AM on January 18 [7 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:52 AM on January 18 [7 favorites]
if you've got the money, honey,
I've got the thyme;
bide thy thyme somehow.
posted by Zargon X at 9:05 AM on January 18 [2 favorites]
I've got the thyme;
bide thy thyme somehow.
posted by Zargon X at 9:05 AM on January 18 [2 favorites]
I loved his albums, his compositions, his wit, and his boundless joy in music. It’s good to read the memories and appreciations here.
posted by Songdog at 9:32 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
posted by Songdog at 9:32 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
And I loved Schickele Mix. If anyone knows where that can be found, please tell me.
posted by Songdog at 9:33 AM on January 18
posted by Songdog at 9:33 AM on January 18
A genius… Thanks to Wendy Carlos, back in the 60’s, I got into Bach. At the library, looking for Bach, I found, PDQ Bach. And things were never the same. Later on, I was at at a local community orchestra concert. They performed The Seasonings. The program just had a staid standard intro to the composer, PDQ Bach, and little to suggest otherwise. The piece began, and myself and one other person in audience began to laugh as the goofiness happened. The rest of the audience just sat there dumbfounded as the crazy lyrics, the bass singer sang below his range, and someone twirled a shower hose as they blew into it. It was great! I saw PS live in Berkeley, where he swung down on a rope from a balcony to the stage. My favorite ditty? The counter-tenor aria from Iphigenia in Brooklyn, “Running Knows.”
On the Joan Baez note, he also did arrangements on Illuminations by Buffy Sainte-Marie.
🎶
posted by njohnson23 at 10:38 AM on January 18 [4 favorites]
On the Joan Baez note, he also did arrangements on Illuminations by Buffy Sainte-Marie.
🎶
posted by njohnson23 at 10:38 AM on January 18 [4 favorites]
I've found several dozen episodes:
A quick Google search (Google results are so much worse than they used to be, but they do still work a lot of the time, thank goodness) turned up a Reddit thread about Schickele Mix, with links two two archives:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2Jlbm9mc2t5LmNvbS9taXgvP2ZlZWQ9cnNzMg?ep=14
... which actually has a link to the original site, with excellent notes, so actually please use this instead: http://www.benofsky.com/mix/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MpYKFFNwnjOaphKjQh6JdMqiF10GroLC?usp=sharing
I'm so glad people archive things, and share their archives. It's a balm for the auditory form of solastalgia, that homesickness for things that used to be here but are now gone.
posted by kristi at 10:46 AM on January 18 [14 favorites]
A quick Google search (Google results are so much worse than they used to be, but they do still work a lot of the time, thank goodness) turned up a Reddit thread about Schickele Mix, with links two two archives:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2Jlbm9mc2t5LmNvbS9taXgvP2ZlZWQ9cnNzMg?ep=14
... which actually has a link to the original site, with excellent notes, so actually please use this instead: http://www.benofsky.com/mix/
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MpYKFFNwnjOaphKjQh6JdMqiF10GroLC?usp=sharing
I'm so glad people archive things, and share their archives. It's a balm for the auditory form of solastalgia, that homesickness for things that used to be here but are now gone.
posted by kristi at 10:46 AM on January 18 [14 favorites]
Also, the program listings seem to have disappeared from his website, but the Wayback Machine has them:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130323145806/http://www.schickele.com/cgi/playlist.pl?command=list
That gives you links to the individual program listings - here's program 1:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110806105827/http://www.schickele.com/cgi/playlist.pl?program=1
(Good reminder to myself to send another $5 to archive.org - I'm pretty sure I use the Wayback Machine at least once a week.)
posted by kristi at 11:23 AM on January 18 [3 favorites]
https://web.archive.org/web/20130323145806/http://www.schickele.com/cgi/playlist.pl?command=list
That gives you links to the individual program listings - here's program 1:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110806105827/http://www.schickele.com/cgi/playlist.pl?program=1
(Good reminder to myself to send another $5 to archive.org - I'm pretty sure I use the Wayback Machine at least once a week.)
posted by kristi at 11:23 AM on January 18 [3 favorites]
Oh no. He was fantastic.
Back when I was a teenager and trying to play the cello, Schickele was a revelation, a delight.
Later, Schickele Mix was something I played to my family whenever possible.
Oh man.
posted by doctornemo at 12:30 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
Back when I was a teenager and trying to play the cello, Schickele was a revelation, a delight.
Later, Schickele Mix was something I played to my family whenever possible.
Oh man.
posted by doctornemo at 12:30 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
I love PDQ Bach, but the first Schickele I put on this morning was Joan Baez' Joan, which he scored. The music is so inventive and fun, in the best possible way.
What Katullus said. Joan is one her best albums ever. I knew Shickele more from his contributions to the three Joan Baez albums than his career as P.D.Q. Bach. But Baptism aside -- about which I have mixed feelings -- and included, his arrangements on those albums are truly marvelous. Their collaboration on Edgar Allan Poe's Annabelle Lee is simply sublime. And perfect in having once been heard, it is impossible to imagine it any other way. I am so sorry to hear of his passing.
...by the way, I ran across this short interview with Joan Baez at a demonstration on Trump's inauguration in 2017 from Palo Alto Online. She is quite astute re the TFG.
posted by y2karl at 12:49 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]
What Katullus said. Joan is one her best albums ever. I knew Shickele more from his contributions to the three Joan Baez albums than his career as P.D.Q. Bach. But Baptism aside -- about which I have mixed feelings -- and included, his arrangements on those albums are truly marvelous. Their collaboration on Edgar Allan Poe's Annabelle Lee is simply sublime. And perfect in having once been heard, it is impossible to imagine it any other way. I am so sorry to hear of his passing.
...by the way, I ran across this short interview with Joan Baez at a demonstration on Trump's inauguration in 2017 from Palo Alto Online. She is quite astute re the TFG.
posted by y2karl at 12:49 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]
.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:18 PM on January 18
posted by hydropsyche at 1:18 PM on January 18
I hate to say goodbye, so here's the Howdy Symphony. Thanks for all the laughs, Peter.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 2:55 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 2:55 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]
I met Peter Schickele in college - he was giving a talk and you could sign up to have lunch with the speaker after and for some reason the signup list wasn't full, so I signed up. I don't remember much about the conversation at the table, but toward the end I asked him what I had been wanting to for a while: whether he saw the work of PDQ Bach as filling a similar niche in classical music to the one Weird Al occupies in rock and pop music. What I mostly remember about his answer was my own surprise that he genuinely seemed never to have considered that question before.
posted by nickmark at 2:59 PM on January 18 [20 favorites]
posted by nickmark at 2:59 PM on January 18 [20 favorites]
OMG nickmark... that might have been one of the best moments in music interview history ever, but of course you're there as a student and not a journalist.
posted by hippybear at 3:22 PM on January 18 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 3:22 PM on January 18 [5 favorites]
I discovered PDQ in my freshman year in college, back in the ancient times (mid-70s). I was already a class-A music nerd, and The Wurst Of PDQ Bach was my most precious album. I think I got all the jokes (though it did take some time to learn what a hardart was).
About ten years later my wife and I went with friends to see him perform in Seattle. What I remember best was him making his entrance by climbing down a rope from the balcony, and the Beethoven's 5th play-by-play, with color provided by a very game local sports anchor (Tony Ventrella from KING-TV, I think) and the University of Washington cheerleaders.
I'll miss the man greatly.
posted by lhauser at 5:40 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]
About ten years later my wife and I went with friends to see him perform in Seattle. What I remember best was him making his entrance by climbing down a rope from the balcony, and the Beethoven's 5th play-by-play, with color provided by a very game local sports anchor (Tony Ventrella from KING-TV, I think) and the University of Washington cheerleaders.
I'll miss the man greatly.
posted by lhauser at 5:40 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]
.
posted by jim in austin at 6:41 PM on January 18
posted by jim in austin at 6:41 PM on January 18
RIP in peace to an absolute legend.
My much younger self was at a fair number of (pop) music festivals, and after a full day of very loud modern music I would put on headphones with PDQ to chill and maybe sleep for a little while before starting it all again the next day. That might have had a little something to do with me ending up studying classical music in much more detail and getting to sing Two Madrigals From The Triumphs of Thusnelda in a college group. Thanks so much Professor.
posted by StarkRoads at 7:07 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
My much younger self was at a fair number of (pop) music festivals, and after a full day of very loud modern music I would put on headphones with PDQ to chill and maybe sleep for a little while before starting it all again the next day. That might have had a little something to do with me ending up studying classical music in much more detail and getting to sing Two Madrigals From The Triumphs of Thusnelda in a college group. Thanks so much Professor.
posted by StarkRoads at 7:07 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
.
posted by tychotesla at 12:10 AM on January 19
posted by tychotesla at 12:10 AM on January 19
Such a delightful combination of knowledge, skill and pure fun. I suspect he will Rest In Play.
.
posted by theora55 at 6:40 AM on January 19 [1 favorite]
.
posted by theora55 at 6:40 AM on January 19 [1 favorite]
The University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople is my favorite D-4 football team. Go Motts!
🎵
posted by Ranucci at 7:49 AM on January 19 [1 favorite]
🎵
posted by Ranucci at 7:49 AM on January 19 [1 favorite]
FWIW, the Wikipedia entry for Hoople, North Dakota has two entries in its Notable People section -- one of whom is Peter Schickele at the University of Southern North Dakota, Music Pathology Dept.
posted by Ranucci at 7:52 AM on January 19 [4 favorites]
posted by Ranucci at 7:52 AM on January 19 [4 favorites]
I don't know why I'm surprised to learn that Hoople, putative home of the University of Southern North Dakota, is one county away from the Manitoba border.
That pretty much sums up what was so great about Schickele: he knew his stuff. You could enjoy the humor mostly in ignorance, and then learn things, and then revisit Schickele to discover that he had already known the thing you had just learned and that it was another layer to his humor. Not in an unwrapping-onion-conspiratorial sort of way; just silliness all the way down.
There is a recording that I only remember vaguely where Schickele and a friend commentate a symphony recording as if it were a baseball game, blabbering nonstop about how this crescendo was lackluster compared last season's performance, and oh! there's a flub! we have a flub from the viola section! and she's recovered, but she sure looks mad about it.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time in middle school wondering whether the dill piccolo was a real instrument.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 8:46 AM on January 19 [11 favorites]
That pretty much sums up what was so great about Schickele: he knew his stuff. You could enjoy the humor mostly in ignorance, and then learn things, and then revisit Schickele to discover that he had already known the thing you had just learned and that it was another layer to his humor. Not in an unwrapping-onion-conspiratorial sort of way; just silliness all the way down.
There is a recording that I only remember vaguely where Schickele and a friend commentate a symphony recording as if it were a baseball game, blabbering nonstop about how this crescendo was lackluster compared last season's performance, and oh! there's a flub! we have a flub from the viola section! and she's recovered, but she sure looks mad about it.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time in middle school wondering whether the dill piccolo was a real instrument.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 8:46 AM on January 19 [11 favorites]
Damn. I've been looking for a show half as good as Schickele Mix for something like thirty years now.
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:08 AM on January 19
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:08 AM on January 19
I'm just shocked to learn that Mott is a verb and Hoople is the object of that verb.
posted by hippybear at 11:28 AM on January 19 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 11:28 AM on January 19 [5 favorites]
.
As a mediocre violinist throughout middle and high school (in Southern North Dakota), He was a mainstay, and like others in this thread, I had a much loved and well used Wurst Of.
I had the privilege of seeing him twice in concert (where at least once he swung in from a rope off stage), and just yesterday I was thinking of a friend that i needed to introduce to P. D. Q. Bach.
Rest in Peace, Peter Schickele.
posted by chromecow at 1:05 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]
As a mediocre violinist throughout middle and high school (in Southern North Dakota), He was a mainstay, and like others in this thread, I had a much loved and well used Wurst Of.
I had the privilege of seeing him twice in concert (where at least once he swung in from a rope off stage), and just yesterday I was thinking of a friend that i needed to introduce to P. D. Q. Bach.
Rest in Peace, Peter Schickele.
posted by chromecow at 1:05 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]
On Joan Baez's album Joan there is a version of Child Ballad number 20 The Cruel Mother aka the Greenwood Si-de-o with only Russ Savakus and Bruce Langhorne on electic guitar. Peter Shickele likely had little to nothing to do with that. Another version of the song was recorded by her Vanguard Records label mates Ian and Sylvia -- The Greenwood Si-de-o
And additionally, three songs on Joan were written by a street musician named Nina Duschek now of South Tyrol, Italy. North on Joan was my favorite by her. I only found out Duschek's back story today. Now knowing that makes it easy to see why Baez recorded three of her songs.
Also of note was that American Composer Don Dilworth, whom Joan Baez knew from her beginning days at Club 47 in Boston. He wrote the melody to Poe's Annabel Lee and gave it to Baez. The arrangement on Joan was Shickele's.
Also, on Joan was a note by Paul Simon:
Paul Simon asks Joan to note that the line in "Dangling Conversation" was originally, "Is the theatre really dead?" Joan Baez sang the line as "Is the Church really dead?"
Also, Peter Shickele arranged Joan Baez's 1965 Christmas album Noel. Which is one of the finer Christmas albums ever in my opinion. Compare and contrast to Bob Dylan -- Christmas In the Heart, if you will.
posted by y2karl at 2:55 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]
And additionally, three songs on Joan were written by a street musician named Nina Duschek now of South Tyrol, Italy. North on Joan was my favorite by her. I only found out Duschek's back story today. Now knowing that makes it easy to see why Baez recorded three of her songs.
Also of note was that American Composer Don Dilworth, whom Joan Baez knew from her beginning days at Club 47 in Boston. He wrote the melody to Poe's Annabel Lee and gave it to Baez. The arrangement on Joan was Shickele's.
Also, on Joan was a note by Paul Simon:
Paul Simon asks Joan to note that the line in "Dangling Conversation" was originally, "Is the theatre really dead?" Joan Baez sang the line as "Is the Church really dead?"
Also, Peter Shickele arranged Joan Baez's 1965 Christmas album Noel. Which is one of the finer Christmas albums ever in my opinion. Compare and contrast to Bob Dylan -- Christmas In the Heart, if you will.
posted by y2karl at 2:55 PM on January 19 [3 favorites]
I listened to some of his works last night. I had not heard Bach Portrait in forever but I recalled the tone of the letters. I don’t know if they are in one of the standard Bach biographies or whether Schickele dug deeper to find them, but they are funny in that setting.
Having performed the Copland source material numerous times (there’s more than just Lincoln Portrait in there) I’m again amazed and delighted at his firm grasp of the source material, composition and orchestration, and at his way of making things serious and funny simultaneously.
Someone above mentioned asking him whether he is classical music’s Weird Al. How did I not make this connection?
As for entrances, I recall one where he swung onto stage like Tarzan from a rope attached somewhere in the flys (scary for the first stand string players!) and one where he ran up the aisle of the house and did a belly flop/skid onto the stage.
Someone commented elsewhere that he appeared at their university to do both a PDQ Bach show and to prepare some of his Schickele works. The commenter was going down a staircase and Schickele was headed up with a large satchel of scores.
The commenter asked “Are you going to the PDQ Bach concert tonight?” to which he replied, “No. I have SOME taste.” Both continued down/up the stairs laughing.
posted by Warren Terra at 11:12 PM on January 19 [5 favorites]
Having performed the Copland source material numerous times (there’s more than just Lincoln Portrait in there) I’m again amazed and delighted at his firm grasp of the source material, composition and orchestration, and at his way of making things serious and funny simultaneously.
Someone above mentioned asking him whether he is classical music’s Weird Al. How did I not make this connection?
As for entrances, I recall one where he swung onto stage like Tarzan from a rope attached somewhere in the flys (scary for the first stand string players!) and one where he ran up the aisle of the house and did a belly flop/skid onto the stage.
Someone commented elsewhere that he appeared at their university to do both a PDQ Bach show and to prepare some of his Schickele works. The commenter was going down a staircase and Schickele was headed up with a large satchel of scores.
The commenter asked “Are you going to the PDQ Bach concert tonight?” to which he replied, “No. I have SOME taste.” Both continued down/up the stairs laughing.
posted by Warren Terra at 11:12 PM on January 19 [5 favorites]
Can I just say, I really love how much this obit thread is an entire celebration of the joy and delight that Schickele brought into lives? There is so much here that anyone who didn't know about him would know a lot about him if they examined everything shared.
That's rare for an obit thread here. It shows how much he was truly loved on a very deep level. I like that a lot.
posted by hippybear at 2:22 PM on January 20 [16 favorites]
That's rare for an obit thread here. It shows how much he was truly loved on a very deep level. I like that a lot.
posted by hippybear at 2:22 PM on January 20 [16 favorites]
R. I. P. Bach.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:07 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:07 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
His parents and my grandparents were colleagues and friends, which is one reason why, when P.D.Q.Bach was not quite the household name that it late bacame, my parents and my aunt and uncle went to see Mr Schickele introduce the world to the unknown works.
My parents were suitably amused. My uncle, a Viennese gentleman from before the war, was outraged.
De gustibus non disputandum.
posted by BWA at 12:10 PM on January 21 [4 favorites]
My parents were suitably amused. My uncle, a Viennese gentleman from before the war, was outraged.
De gustibus non disputandum.
posted by BWA at 12:10 PM on January 21 [4 favorites]
He brought so much joy and education into so many lives .... What a magnificent legacy.
posted by brainwane at 8:13 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
posted by brainwane at 8:13 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
🎵
posted by adrienneleigh at 4:01 AM on January 23
posted by adrienneleigh at 4:01 AM on January 23
My spouse has launched a new effort to make it easier for people to access Schickele Mix recordings.
....This site presents all of the extant information online about Schickele's amazing music-education radio show Schickele Mix, which stopped airing in 2007 and has been in copyright clearance hell ever since—an inevitable but undeserved fate.And there is a podcast feed.
I've scraped the now-defunct official Perl CGI that gave out Schickele Mix listings, and reformatted the listings with links to archived recordings of all the episodes that have been saved by fans. About 130 of about 180 episodes total have been archived....
...I've got one more big piece of this project planned, but this is enough to tell the world, I think. The web page makes it clear which episodes of Schickele Mix are still missing fan-archive recordings. If you think you might have one of the missing episodes on an old cassette tape or something, please email me at leonardr@segfault.org.posted by brainwane at 7:42 PM on January 31 [7 favorites]
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posted by adekllny at 6:00 PM on January 17 [5 favorites]