Happy Birthday, Peter Schickele!

Born this day in 1935. Here's the O-fficial website, no doubt hosted by the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, the epicenter of modern P.D.Q Bach research.

From Schikele's introductory remarks on his P.D.Q. Bach at Carnegie Hall album:

I'm sure that many of you know that Robert Schumann, on first becoming acquainted with the music of Brahms, wrote in his magazine, "Hats off, Gentlemen, a genius"

In the next issue, before the publication of which the music of P.D.Q. Bach became known to him, he wrote, "Hats back on, Gentlemen, an idiot."

Schikele's genius with the P.D.Q. Bach franchise is that he is able, owing to his own musical gifts, to play out the humor on so many different levels. There's plenty of slap-stick, of course, but there's also a great deal more humor on much deeper musical levels as well. In short, he's managed to achieve a near universal appeal.

If you've only heard of P.D.Q., you might not know that Schikele also writes serious music. Unfortunately, I've never actually heard any of it, so I can't say what I think about it.

Finally, if you're interested in music - not just classical, but all kinds - and you haven't done so before, I heartily recommend that you try and catch Schikele Mix, Schikele's radio show. The other side of his genius is his gift for teaching - one can learn more from listening to one hour session of this show than one can from an entire semester of college-level music appreciation.