P.D.Q. Bach RIP

Peter Schickele, the man behind the fictional character P.D.Q. Back, died this week at the age of 88. He performed a satirical comedy routine and recorded albums that were a parody version of classical music. His first comedy album came out in 1965. He regularly released P.D.Q. Bach comedy albums over the next several years that I heard on the radio and on television. We used to see him on variety shows like The Smothers Brothers and late night shows like Johnny Carson. He dropped off my radar when I was in the Navy but apparently he kept doing performances and releasing albums over the next couple of decades. He received four Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Albums in the 1990's. 

He made an impression on me back in 1965 when he burst on the music scene because at that time I was in high school and a member of the school band playing clarinet. Our music teachers and band conductors seemed to be upset with the P.D.Q. Bach concept because they were trying to teach us respect and serious understanding of classical music, standards, show tunes, etc. and he was all over the radio and television making fun of that music and being silly.

Now I could appreciate what he was doing because I was already a member of a Philadelphia Mummers String Band where there already was a healthy tradition of taking serious music and running with it all over the place with banjos and accordians. Mummers bands played all kinds of music and frequently mixed up classical and current popular music together along with silly costumes and routines. P.D.Q. Bach could have been a mummer.