Happy Birthday, Peter Schickele

[filkertom]

On this date in 1935. You can pick up all kindsa goodies at his official web site, and if you haven't heard his stuff before, oh my goodness are you in for a treat. (Link is a Google search for "p.d.q. bach" videos.)

What are your favorite Schickele or P.D.Q. Bach pieces? I love his arrangement of "Pomp and Circumstance" for Disney's Fantasia 2000, The Seasonings, Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice, The Art of the Ground Round, New Horizons In Music Appreciation....

Comments

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

My favorite: the Bluegrass Cantata, on Black Forest Bluegrass.

I'd go with that one, too

[capplor.livejournal.com]

I've got just enough German to get the jokes in the original.

Although I have a sneaking admiration for the title "Eine Kleine Nichmusik"

I'd go with that one, too

[capplor.livejournal.com]

I've got just enough German to get the jokes in the original.

Although I have a sneaking admiration for the title "Eine Kleine Nichmusik"

[jss]

"Yes."

I rather enjoy the "Howdy" Symphony in D major, but that may be in part because I saw it performed live. And there are parts in The Abduction of Figaro I rather enjoy, though I think it could stand some editing.

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

But I thought the point was that it was supposed to feel overly long and draggy...rather like poorly done opera.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Gotta be "New Horizons in Music Appreciation."

[maiac.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to pick a favorite. The Art of the Ground Round immediately comes to mind, then Eine Kleine Nichtmusik. And of course New Horizons in Music Appreciation.

I still vividly remember seeing Pete Schickele performing the music of PDQ Bach at the DIA theater, with the Ann Arbor Chamber ensemble. I do not know how the musicians got through the concert without laughing.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

One of these days, I'd like to see them bring out the hardart.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I have seen Peter Schickele perform the Concerto for Horn and Hardart. The Hardart was an indescribable contrivance.

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

My absolute favorite is the Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle, and Balloons.

[elisabeth.livejournal.com]

My favorite is and likely will remain Oedipus Tex.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I really love Schickele On a Lark which is a serious chamber music disk that really transports me.

[kayshapero]

The 1712 Overture. One of the few musical compositions that ever had me literally rolling on the floor laughing. And I shall probably never feel quite the same about Don Giovanni, after listening to The Stoned Guest. :)

[maiac.livejournal.com]

...And now I'm wondering whether Schickele will "discover" PDQ Bach's Concerto for Vuvuzela and Orchestra.

[ericcoleman]

You are a bad bad person ... I like you

[unclekage.livejournal.com]

The Seasonings, without doubt.

"If you've got the money, honey, I've got the thyme..."

[ericcoleman]

One of my favorite road discs is an 80 minute mix disc of stuff from the box set of the early material. Put that on shuffle and try to drive. Each movement is a different track, and you never know what is going to follow what.

That said, I am partial to his own pieces, which he wrote, himself. the Quodlibet and the Unbegun Symphony

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

The Classical Rap, hands down. Maybe it's that I grew up in and around the Upper Upper Upper...West Side!

[poltr1]

In my high school wind ensemble, we did Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion. There was a passage where we played mouthpieces only.

And of course, I like the classic New Horizons in Music Appreciation.

[sdelmonte]

I haven't listened to any PDQ is ages. I am overdue.

I will add that I used to attend the professor's annual concerts in NYC when I was younger. I miss those days, though I think he still comes around from time to time.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Don't forget his Christmas madrigals, "Throw the Yule Log On Uncle John" and "Good King Kong."

I also love the "Latin" chant of the priest in H&G&T&A:

Credo in at most unum deum,
Habeat nabisco mausoleum
Coitus interruptus bonus meum,
Keemo sabe watchum what you say-um.

[blaisedec.livejournal.com]

I've performed several of his works; my favorite was "The Triumphs of Thusnelda", where I was scheduled to do the bass solo at the end but was bumped to allow Mr. Schickele himself to do it. (It was a fundraiser for the scholarship fund of the school his daughter and I both attended...)

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Gotta be The Abduction of Figaro. Or Oedipus Tex. Or My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth. Or Throw the Yule Log On Uncle John (which my nieces seem to appreciate for some reason. Or . . .

[otherdeb.livejournal.com]

All of them......

[bluesmancd.livejournal.com]

I remember performing "The March of the Cute Little Wood Sprites" in school. I liked the sports commentary to a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. His biography of PDQ is a joy to see, too.

[sidebernie.livejournal.com]

I just finally upgraded my copy of The Abduction of Figaro from VHS to DVD recently, and I spent a bunch of this weekend trying to get it correctly ripped to my iPod (the chapter titles were giving me problems). That said, I think the Unbegun Symphony is probably my all time favorite. I also have fond memories of his Vermillion Suite from when I was studying cello in college, but that's as much for the mental associations as from the music itself.

[ebenbrooks.livejournal.com]

My favorite piece is "Lord Have Mercy On my Solo" from Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice.