Editing Peter Schickele (section)

==P. D. Q. Bach==
{{Main|P. D. Q. Bach}}
Schickele developed an elaborate parody around his studies of P.D.Q. Bach, the fictional "youngest and the oddest of the twenty-odd children" of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]].<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Among the fictional composer's "forgotten" repertory are such farcical works as ''[[The Abduction of Figaro]]'',<ref name=NYTobit/> the "Unbegun" symphony,<ref name=NYTobit/> "[[Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons]]",<ref name=NYTobit/> ''Canine Cantata: "Wachet Arf!"'',<ref name=Compositions>[https://www.schickele.com/cgi/catalogue.pl?list=all Peter Schickele: Compositions], Peter Schickele</ref> ''Good King Kong Looked Out'',<ref>[https://www.schickele.com/wp/works/recordings/portrait-of-p-d-q-bach/ Peter Schickele: Portrait of P.D.Q. Bach], Peter Schickele</ref> the ''"Trite" Quintet'',<ref name=Compositions/> "O Little Town of Hackensack",<ref name=NYTobit/> ''[[A Little Nightmare Music]]'',<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1984/02/19/a-little-nightmare-music-from-pdq/31f95eed-4172-4785-9788-1f60555f60f2/ 'A Little Nightmare Music' From P.D.Q.], ''The Washington Post''. Accessed 16 May 2024.</ref> the cantata ''[[Iphigenia]] in [[Brooklyn]]'',<ref name=NYTobit/> the ''[[Concerto for Horn and Hardart]]'',<ref name=NYTobit/> ''[[The Stoned Guest]]'',<ref name=NYTobit/> "Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice",<ref name=NYTobit/> the ''Concerto for Two Pianos vs. Orchestra'',<ref name=NYTobit/> the dramatic oratorio ''[[Oedipus Tex]]''<ref name=Compositions/><ref>[https://www.schickele.com/wp/works/recordings/oedipus-tex-and-other-choral-calamities/ Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities], Peter Schickele</ref> and ''Einstein on the Fritz'', a parody of Schickele's [[Juilliard]] classmate [[Philip Glass]].<ref name=Gann>{{Cite web|title=Classical Trash|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/classical-trash-6422519|work=[[The Village Voice]]|access-date=February 21, 2016|first=Kyle|last=Gann|date=January 19, 1999|author-link=Kyle Gann|archive-date=December 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222111625/http://www.villagevoice.com/music/classical-trash-6422519|url-status=live}}</ref>

His fictitious "home establishment" is the University of Southern North Dakota at [[Hoople, North Dakota|Hoople]], where he reports having tenure as "Very Full Professor" of "musicolology" and "musical pathology". He invented a range of rather unusual instruments. The most complicated of these is the Hardart, a tone-generating device mounted on the frame of an "[[automat]]", a coin-operated food dispenser. This modified automat is used in the ''Concerto for Horn and Hardart'', a play on the name of [[Horn & Hardart]] who pioneered the American use of the automat in their restaurants.<ref name=NYTobit/>

Schickele also invented the "dill piccolo" for playing sour notes, the "left-handed sewer flute", the "[[tromboon]]" ("a cross between a trombone and a bassoon, having all the disadvantages of both"), the "[[whirly tube|lasso d'amore]]", the double-reed slide music stand, the "tuba mirum" (a flexible tube filled with wine), and the "pastaphone" (an uncooked tube of pasta played as a horn).<ref name=bio>{{cite book|last1=Schickele|first1=Peter|title=[[The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach|The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach (1807–1742)?]]|date=1976|publisher=Random House|location=New York|isbn=0-394-73409-2|edition=1st}}</ref>{{rp|153}}

To a large degree, Schickele's music as P.D.Q. Bach has overshadowed his work as a "serious" composer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/composers-jovial-shtick-is-serious-musical-business/|title=Composer's jovial shtick is serious musical business|first=Melinda|last=Bargreen|work=[[The Seattle Times]]|date=August 31, 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/publications/bulletin/index.php?id=561 "Swarthmore's First Music Major"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125092148/http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/publications/bulletin/index.php?id=561 |date=January 25, 2009 }} by Paul Wachter, ''[[Swarthmore College]] Bulletin'' (September 2007)</ref> 

Schickele performed two concerts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his first concert at [[The Town Hall (New York City)|The Town Hall]] in New York on December 28 and 29, 2015.<ref>{{cite news|last=Oestreich|first=James R.|author-link=James R. Oestreich|title=Review: Bach at St. Paul's, and the Fictional Relative, P.D.Q., at Town Hall|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/arts/music/review-bach-at-st-pauls-and-the-fictional-relative-pdq-at-town-hall.html|access-date=January 9, 2016|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 30, 2015}}</ref> He reduced his concert appearances due to health issues, but continued to schedule live concert performances through 2018.<ref name="Schedule">{{cite web|title=Peter Schickele Concert Schedule|url=https://www.schickele.com/concerts/index.htm|website=The Peter Schickele Web Site|access-date=February 22, 2017}}</ref>