The Life and Times of P.D.Q Bach

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I can't imagine why I have left writing about this legendary composer for so long.

P. D. Q. Bach was the last --and most certainly least-- of old J. S. Bach's sons.  He was discovered, much like Piltdown Man, by the musical paleontologist Peter Schickele, who has a reputation of his own (mostly independent of that of P.D.Q.B), and is a slightly disgruntled graduate of Juilliard.

Fortunately for us, Peter S. has made it his avocation, or mission, if you prefer, to record all of P. D. Q. Bach's opus, and it is all available on CD.  For the interested novice, there is no compendium more persuasive or telling than the first Greatest Hits collection named rather frivolously I thought, The Wurst of P. D. Q. Bach.  Once you have let the dulcet tones of the Wurst collection caress your eardrums, you too can exclaim: "Take me now, Lord," or "Beam me up, Scotty," or "Swing Low," as your temperament might dictate.  At any rate, you will most certainly be exclaiming something.

In those early recordings, which have culminated in Wurst, Schickele contributed a fair amount of musicology to the sound recording itself, introducing most pieces as if they were being performed live.  (Actually, about half of them were indeed performed live; the rest were performed most certainly dead.)  Every cut is wonderful, but I will mention just two, both vocal pieces:

Iphigenia in Brooklyn is a wonderful, wonderful piece of musical drama, in these recordings featuring a brilliant countertenor, designated Bargain Counter Tenor, John Ferrante.  (More about this phenomenon anon.)

The Seasonings, clearly ripped-off from Haydn in advance, by a baffling piece of compositional espionage, is graced by a brilliant performance by the soprano, Marlena Kleinman, specifically in the aria "Now is the season".

Much later, P. D. Q. Bach's opera The Abduction of Figaro was performed for DVD by Peter Schickele and his long-suffering team.  This is a miraculous and hilarious opera, most definitely his best dramatic work.  (There are other woks by the composer that are hardly in the same class, either in terms of finish, or seriousness of purpose.)  Abduction features, among other fabulous performers, that selfsame John Ferrante who sang in Wurst.  Brilliant!

Here is a scene from the traditional ballet scene: