Composers Datebook®

Peter Schickele and P.D.Q. Bach

Composers Datebook for July 17, 2011

Synopsis

Today’s date in 1935 marks the birthday of American composer Peter Schickele, best known for his outrageous musical parodies supposedly penned by the fictional P.D.Q. Bach, the "youngest and the oddest of the many children of J.S. Bach.” Some radio listeners might also have fond memories of the inventive radio series he created, Schickele Mix, dedicated to the proposition “that all musics are created equal.”

Schickele was born in Ames, Iowa, and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, where he began his study of composition. He later attended Swarthmore College and the Juilliard School, where one of his classmates was fellow composer Philip Glass. It was at Juilliard that Schickele’s talent for parody created the works of P.D.Q. Bach, and these humorous pieces proved so popular at Juilliard concerts that they were eventually presented at Lincoln Center and even Carnegie Hall.

The tremendous success of P.D.Q. Bach’s music has overshadowed the more serious concert works written under Schickele’s own name. That’s not to say there’s a lack of wit in Schickele’s “serious” music — far from it. But while P.D.Q. Bach’s works might elicit belly laughs, Schickele’s music can evoke more pensive emotions, not without an occasional smile, of course.

Music Played in Today's Program

Peter Schickele (1935-2024) Pentangle; Kenneth Albrecht, French horn; Louisville Orchestra; Jorge Mester, cond.; Albany/First Edition 024

On This Day

Births

  • 1832 - Swedish composer August Söderman, in Stockholm

  • 1875 - English composer, pianist, and music scholar Sir Donald Tovey, in Eton

  • 1935 - American composer and musical satirist Peter Schickele, in Ames, Iowa; He "discovered" and performed the music of P.D.Q Bach (1807-1742?)

Deaths

  • 1937 - French composer and conductor Gabriel Pierné, age 73, in Ploujean, Brittany

  • 1967 - Jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, age 40, in Huntington, Long Island (New York

Premieres

  • 1717 - Handel: "Water Music" on the river Thames, during a royal barge trip from Whitehall to Chelsea (Gregorian date: July 28)

  • 1927 - Milhaud: opera "L'enlèvement d'Europe" (The Rape of Europa), in Baden-Baden at the Stadthalle

  • 1975 - Sallinen: opera, "The Horseman" at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland

  • 1983 - Sir Lenox Berkeley: Cello Concerto, in Manchester.

Others

  • 1877 - Otto Dessoff conducts the Vienna Philharmonic on its first concert tour to Salzburg, as part of a three-day "Salzburger Musikfest" (Salzburg Music Festival) on July 17-19; The orchestra would return to Salzburg in 1879, 1891, 1901, 1904, 1906, and 1910, for special concerts, and in 1925 the annual "Salzburg Festival" was established, with the Vienna Philharmonic as the Festival's prominent participant

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About Composers Datebook®

Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.

He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.

About Composers Datebook®