Classical music—a dignified, serious genre for dignified, serious people. If that’s what students think before the PDQ Bach concert on Friday, they might come away with a much different opinion.
In the case of PDQ Bach, Johann Sebastian’s long-forgotten brother, a classical arrangement is neither dignified nor serious, but a source of humor.
Pretty Damn Quick “PDQ” Bach is a fictional composer invented by music satirist Peter Schickele. The story goes that Schickele “discovered” PDQ Bach’s musical arrangements and now attempts to perform them.
Though his pieces have titles such as “Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities” and “The Short Tempered Clavier and Other Dysfunctional Works for Keyboard,” Schickele himself is no joke. He has won four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Recording/Album—all of them while performing PDQ Bach works.
Janelle Fletcher-Kilmer, director of UW cultural programs, said she’s excited for the accomplished musician to perform at University of Wyoming.
“He’s a legend in the field,” she said. “I think what speaks most and best for him is the volume of stories we heard from people who have seen him perform all over the country throughout his long and storied career and still recall just how wonderful the experience was.”
Fletcher-Kilmer said she expects a sell-out. “It’s my hope that the humor aspect will draw students,” she said. “I also hope that students will have interest in seeing a legend perform—someone who has been selling out venues for decades because he’s so great at his craft.”
In addition to performing long-lost works of his fictional pseudonym, Schickele has invented several unorthodox instruments, which he occasionally uses in his performances. These inventions include a tromboon (which is a mix between a trombone and a bassoon), a dill piccolo, a left-handed sewer flute and a pastaphone (which is an instrument literally made out of manicotti).
The concert will take place tonight from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for Performing Arts. The UW Wind Symphony will accompany Schickele toward the end of the program, playing one of PDQ Bach’s Grammy-winning recordings: “Serenade For an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion.”
