P. D. Q. Bach

P. D. Q. Bach
Portrait of P. D. Q. Bach album cover
First appearance
Last appearance
  • P. D. Q. Bach: The Golden Anniversary
  • December 29, 2015
Created byPeter Schickele
Portrayed byPeter Schickele
In-universe information
OccupationComposer
Family
NationalityGerman

P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer created by the American composer and musical satirist Peter Schickele for a five-decade 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".

Schickele began working on the character while studying at the Aspen Music Festival and School and Juilliard,[1] and performed a variety of P. D. Q. Bach shows over many years. The Village Voice mentions the juxtaposition of collage, bitonality, musical satire, and orchestral surrealism in a "bizarre melodic stream of consciousness ... In P.D.Q. Bach he has single-handedly mapped a musical universe that everyone knew was there and no one else had the guts (not simply the bad taste) to explore."[2]

In 2012 Schickele reduced his touring due to age. On December 28 and 29, 2015, at The Town Hall in New York, he performed two concerts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his first concert.[3] Schickele died on January 16, 2024, aged 88.[4]

  1. ^ Schlueter, Paul. "P. D. Q. Bach satirist a seriously good humor man". www.mcall.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  2. ^ Gann, Kyle (January 19, 1999). "Classical Trash". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  3. ^ Oestreich, James R. (December 16, 2015). "Peter Schickele Brings P.D.Q. Bach Back to the Stage". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 11, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  4. ^ Fox, Margalit (January 17, 2024). "Peter Schickele, Composer and Gleeful Sire of P.D.Q. Bach, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2024.