Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele – full name Johann 'Peter Schickele', but never used -- (b. July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical parodist and musical educator. He was born in Ames, Iowa, USA, and graduated with a degree in music from Swarthmore College in 1957. He graduated from the Juilliard School with an M.S. in musical composition.
Schickele has composed more than 100 original works for symphony orchestra, choral groups, chamber ensemble, voice, film (e.g. Silent Running), and television. He has also written music for school bands, folk singers (Joan Baez), musicals and organized numerous concert performances as both musical director and performer.
Schickele’s musical creations have won him multiple awards. His extensive body of work is marked by a distinctive style which integrates the European classical tradition with an unmistakable American idiom. As a musical educator he also hosted the classical music educational radio program Schickele Mix which was broadcast on many public radio stations in the United States and can still be capted on the [Schickele Mix] website. He is active on the international and North American concert circuit.
Besides writing music under his own name, Schickele has, as part of his life long attempt to draw attention to the work of the deservedly forgotten Baroque-ish composer P. D. Q. Bach, perhaps best known for his clever parodies of classical music, written under this particular Bach’s name, for which he has won four Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Performance/Album. Among the huge repertory that is still be uncovered by the diligent Schickele, are such challenging works as: The Abduction of Figaro, Canine Cantata: "Wachet Arf!" (S. K9), Good King Kong Looked Out, "Trite" Quintet (S. 6 of 1), O Little Town of Hackensack, A Little Nightmare Music, and perhaps best known of all the dramatic oratorio, Oedipus Tex
His "home establishment," where he has taken tenure as Very Full Professor Peter Schickele of both "Musicolology" and "Musical Pathology", is the U. of S.N.D. at H. University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, a little known “institution” which does not normally welcome out of state visitors. Professor Schickele has gained world fame as the leading expert on both the life and work of P. D. Q. Bach, 1807-1742, a prolific composer in his own right as well as the oddest and least loved of the twenty odd sons of Johann Sebastian Bach. Professor Schickele continues to uncover misplaced, forgotten or in some case purposely hidden and even partially destroyed works of PDQ Bach, more than four score of which already in captivity. The professor’s devotion has no apparent bounds.
To illustrate the work of his uncovered composer, Schickele invented a range of rather unusual instruments. The most complicated of these is the Hardart, which consists of a variety of tone-generating devices mounted on the frame of an Automat (a coin-operated food dispenser). It 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 and the tuba mirum (an uncooked tube of manicotti pasta played as a horn). PDQ's 1965 Concerto for Bagpipe, Bicycle and Balloon demonstrated the inherent musical qualities of everyday objects in ways not equally agreeable to all who listen to them
Schickele was also a member of the chamber rock trio Open Window, which wrote and performed music for the revue Oh! Calcutta!. Schickele's two children, Matt and Karla, have been members of various indie rock bands, including Beekeeper, Ida, and K.
But no entry on Peter Schickele would be complete without a firm reminder of the high quality of his musical contributions and his important role as a musical educator. The joy and pure fun inspired by the work of PDQ Bach sometimes gets in the way of his importance as a major 20th century -plus composer.
Peter Schickele's music is published by the Theodore Presser Company.