Composer of the Week – Peter Schickele

Happy late Birthday to American composer Peter Schickele, who was born July 17, 1935. A talented composer and educator, Schickele is also the creator of the famous fictional composer P.D.Q. Bach.

Schickele has composed scores of works for orchestra, choral groups, school bands, and movies and television. He’s also worked with many folk musicians over the years, most notably Joan Baez. Although he definitly deserves to be recognized as a composer in his own right, Schickele is probably most famous for his parody characterization of P.D.Q. Bach, the fictional youngest child of Johann Sebastian Bach. Through the years, Schickele has “discovered” the works of P.D.Q. Bach, which are really awesome parodies of baroque and classical music.

Here’s one of Peter Schickele’s compositions, Monochrome III for nine clarinets:

And here’s a piece of P.D.Q. Bach’s: 1712 Overture