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{{Short description|American composer, musical educator and parodist (1935–2024)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Peter Schickele
| honorific_suffix = 
| image            = Peter Schickele.jpg
| alt              = 
| caption          = Schickele in 2010
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| birth_name       = 
| alias            = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1935|07|17}}
| birth_place      = [[Ames, Iowa]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2024|01|16|1935|07|17}}
| death_place      = [[Bearsville, New York]], U.S.
| education        = [[Swarthmore College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Juilliard School]] ([[Master of Music|MM]]) 
| occupation       = Composer, musical educator, [[parody|parodist]]
| website          = {{URL|schickele.com}}
}}

'''Peter Schickele''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|ɪ|k|əl|i}};<ref name=NYTobit/> July 17, 1935 – January 16, 2024) was an American composer, musical educator and [[parody|parodist]], best known for comedy albums featuring his music, which he presented as being composed by the fictional [[P. D. Q. Bach]]. He also hosted a long-running weekly radio program called ''Schickele Mix''.<ref name="Schickele Mix: The Lost Episodes">{{cite web|website=Yellowstonepublicradio.org|title=Schickele Mix: The Lost Episodes|url=http://www.yellowstonepublicradio.org/programs/listings/schickele_mix.php}}</ref>

From 1990 to 1993, Schickele's P. D. Q. Bach recordings earned him four consecutive wins for the [[Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album]].<ref name="Grammy"/>

==Early life==
Peter Schickele was born on July 17, 1935, in [[Ames, Iowa]],<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news |last1=Fox |first1=Margalit |title=Peter Schickele, Composer and Gleeful Sire of P.D.Q. Bach, Dies at 88 |work=The New York Times |date=January 17, 2024 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/arts/music/peter-schickele-dead.html |access-date=January 17, 2024}}</ref><ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2202}}</ref> to [[Alsace|Alsatian]] immigrant parents. His father, Rainer Schickele (1905, [[Berlin]] – 1989, [[Berkeley, California]]), was the son of writer [[René Schickele]] and was an agricultural economist teaching at [[Iowa State University]].<ref name="library.ndsu.edu">{{cite web |url=http://library.ndsu.edu/repository/bitstream/handle/10365/322/Mss0224.pdf |title=Finding Aid to the Rainer Schickele Papers |publisher=North Dakota State University Institute for Regional Studies and University Archives |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304224635/http://library.ndsu.edu/repository/bitstream/handle/10365/322/Mss0224.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> 
In 1945, Schickele's father took a position at [[George Washington University]] in Washington, D.C., then became chairman of the Agricultural Sciences Department at North Dakota Agricultural College (now [[North Dakota State University]]) in [[Fargo, North Dakota]] in 1946.<ref name="library.ndsu.edu" />
[[File:Peter Schickele at Swarthmore.jpg|thumb|Schickele (rear) and others at Swarthmore College|right]]
In Fargo, the younger Schickele studied composition with Sigvald Thompson of the [[Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra]]. He graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1952, then attended [[Swarthmore College]], graduating in 1957 with a degree in music. He was the first student at Swarthmore to earn a music degree.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-22 |title=In Honor of Composer and Satirist Peter Schickele '57 H'80 |url=https://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/honor-composer-and-satirist-peter-schickele-%E2%80%9957-h%E2%80%9980 |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=www.swarthmore.edu |language=en}}</ref> He was a contemporary of [[Ted Nelson]] at Swarthmore, and he scored Nelson's experimental film ''The Epiphany of Slocum Furlow''. It was his first film score.<ref>{{YouTube|rFgul6rwNbQ|The Epiphany of Slocum Furlow}}</ref> He graduated from the [[Juilliard School]] in 1960<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cabaniss |first1=Thomas |title=Remembering Persichetti: A Centennial Panel and Concert |url=http://journal.juilliard.edu/journal/1510/remembering-persichetti |website=The Juilliard Journal |access-date=March 1, 2020 |date=October 2015}}</ref> with a master's degree in musical composition.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/11/AR2007051102026.html|title=Schickele Keeps the 'Serious Fun' Rolling With NSO|first=Robert|last=Battey|date=May 12, 2007|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> He studied composition with [[Roy Harris]] and [[Vincent Persichetti]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/arts/music/peter-schickele-dead.html|title=Peter Schickele, Composer and Gleeful Sire of P.D.Q. Bach, Dies at 88|first=Margalit|last=Fox|work=The New York Times |date=January 17, 2024|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>

==Early career==
[[File:Peter Schickele in Milwaukee, February 24, 1981.jpg|thumb|right|Schickele in Milwaukee in 1981]]

Schickele wrote music for a number of [[folk music]]ians, most notably [[Joan Baez]], for whom he also orchestrated and arranged three albums during the mid-1960s, ''[[Noël (Joan Baez album)|Noël]]'' (1966), ''[[Joan (album)|Joan]]'' (1967), and ''[[Baptism: A Journey Through Our Time|Baptism]]'' (1968). He also composed the original score for the 1972 science fiction film ''[[Silent Running]]''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Tammy |last=Ravas |date=2004 |title=Peter Schickele: A Bio-bibliography |page=7 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0-313-32070-5}}</ref>

[[File:Peter Schickele seated barefoot atop a piano.jpg|thumb|right|Schickele seated barefoot atop a piano, c. 1980s]]

Schickele, an accomplished [[bassoon]]ist, was also a member of the chamber rock trio the Open Window, which wrote and performed music for the 1969 [[revue]] ''[[Oh! Calcutta!]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea6-d936-a7fd-eef676a00000&type=op|title=''Oh! Calcutta!'' – Cast|website=[[Playbill (magazine)|Playbill]]|date=March 1971}}</ref> and released three albums.<ref>{{OCLC|7010731|show=''The Open Window'', 1969}}</ref><ref>{{OCLC|3745796|show=''Three Views From "The Open Window"'', 1969}}</ref><ref>{{OCLC|25739018|show=''Oh! Calcutta!'', 1970}}</ref>

The humorous aspect of Schickele's musical career came from his early interest in the music of [[Spike Jones]], whose musical ensemble lampooned popular music in the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> in 1959, while at Juilliard, Schickele teamed with conductor [[Jorge Mester]] to present a humorous concert, which became an annual event at the college.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} In 1965, Schickele moved the concept to [[The Town Hall (New York City)|The Town Hall in New York City]] and invited the public to attend;<ref name="LarkinGE"/> [[Vanguard Records]] released an album of that concert, and the character of "P. D. Q. Bach" was launched.<ref name=TT /> By 1972, the concerts had become so popular that they were moved to [[Avery Fisher Hall]] at [[Lincoln Center]].

==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=dead}}</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> He frequently collaborated with soprano Michele Eaton and tenor [[David Dusing]] who often appeared with him in concerts.<ref name="HOUSTON">{{cite news|title=Crimes Against Music|work=[[The Houston Chronicle]]|date= December 4, 2005|first=Charles|last=Ward|pages=12-13; section Zest}}</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>

==Other musical career==
Schickele composed more than 100 original works for [[orchestra|symphony orchestra]], choral groups, [[chamber music|chamber ensemble]], voice, television and an animated adaptation of ''[[Where the Wild Things Are]]'' (which he also narrated).<ref name=TT>''[[The Tennessean]]'' March 12, 2009, "The Nashville Scene", p. 46</ref> He made a brief foray into [[Film industry|cinema]] with the [[Bruce Dern]] film ''[[Silent Running]]'' (1972), for which he composed the [[Film score|musical score]] and co-wrote the original songs "Silent Running" and "Rejoice in the Sun" with Diane Lampert. He also wrote music for school bands, as well as for a number of musicals, including ''[[Oh! Calcutta!]]'', and organized numerous concert performances as both musical director and performer. Schickele was active on the international and North American concert circuit.<ref name=NYTobit/>

Schickele's musical creations won him multiple awards. His extensive body of work is marked by a distinctive style which integrates the European classical tradition with an unmistakable American idiom.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.classical-scene.com/2016/03/21/shickele-concord/|title=Shickele Sans PDQ|author=Vance R. Koven|work=The Boston Musical Intelligencer|date=March 21, 2016|access-date=July 17, 2023}}</ref>

Schickele also created such not-quite–P. D. Q. Bach albums as ''Hornsmoke'',<ref>{{AllMusic|class=composition|id=mc0002446336|title=''Hornsmoke (A Horse Opera)'' – Peter Schickele}}</ref> ''Sneaky Pete and the Wolf'',<ref>{{AllMusic|class=composition|id=mc0002660973|title=''Sneaky Pete and the Wolf'' – P.D.Q. Bach}}</ref> and ''The Emperor's New Clothes''.<ref>{{AllMusic|class=composition|id=mc0002530765|title=''The Emperor's New Clothes'', for narrator & ensemble – Peter Schickele}}</ref>

Schickele's music is published by the [[Theodore Presser Company]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Western |first1=Marvin L. |title=The Music of Peter Schickele An Analysis of His Music Involving the Clarinet |date=2007 |publisher=Shenandoah University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9IPNvQEACAAJ |access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref>

==Radio==
As a musical educator he also hosted the classical music educational radio program ''Schickele Mix'', which aired on many [[public broadcasting|public radio stations]] in the United States (and internationally on [[Public Radio International]]). The program began in 1992; lack of funding ended the production of new programs by 1999, and rebroadcasts of the existing programs finally ceased in June 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dedicated to the Proposition that All Musics are Created Equal |url=http://www.schickele.com/mix/ |work=The Peter Schickele/P.D.Q. Bach Web Site |access-date=February 22, 2008 |archive-date=December 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208041028/http://www.schickele.com/mix/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Only 119 of the 169 programs were in the rebroadcast rotation, because earlier shows contained [[Public Radio International#History|American Public Radio]] production IDs rather than ones crediting Public Radio International. In March 2006, some of the other "lost episodes" were added back to the rotation,<ref name="Schickele Mix: The Lost Episodes"/> with one notable program remnant of the "Periodic Table of Musics", listing the names of musicians and composers as mythical element names in a format reminiscent of the [[periodic table]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Schickele Mix Program Database Search |url=http://www.schickele.com/cgi-bin/playlist.pl |work=The Peter Schickele/P.D.Q. Bach Web Site |access-date=February 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112054846/http://www.schickele.com/cgi-bin/playlist.pl |archive-date=November 12, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Schickele married poet Susan Sindall on October 27, 1962.<ref>{{cite news | title=Susan Sindall Is Bride of a Juilliard Teacher | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/10/28/archives/susan-sindall-is-bride-of-a-juilliard-teacher.html |work=[[The New York Times]]|page=91|author= | date=October 28, 1962 | access-date=March 28, 2023}}</ref> Their children, Matt and Karla, are both musicians. The two played together in the trio Beekeeper in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite news | title=At Work With: Peter Schickele; When P.D.Q. Meets P.D. Slow | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/01/garden/at-work-with-peter-schickele-when-p-d-q-meets-p-d-slow.html |work=[[The New York Times]]| author=James R. Oestreich|author-link=James R. Oestreich| date=February 1, 1995 | access-date=March 28, 2023}}</ref> Karla is also an orchestral music composer.

Schickele's brother [[David Schickele]] (1937–1999) was a film director and musician.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/11/arts/david-schickele-62-filmmaker-and-with-brother-a-parodist.html?pagewanted=print |title=David Schickele, 62, Filmmaker and, With Brother, a Parodist|author= Kozinn, Allan|author-link= Allan Kozinn|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= November 11, 1999}}</ref>

Peter Schickele died at his home in [[Bearsville, New York]], on January 16, 2024, at the age of 88, due to a series of infections that damaged his health.<ref name=NYTobit/>

==Awards==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Award
! scope="col"| Category
! scope="col"| Work
! scope="col"| Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{Abbr|Ref(s)|Reference(s)}}
|-
| [[12th Annual Grammy Awards|1970]]
| rowspan="9" | [[Grammy Awards]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album|Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album]]
| ''[[Oh! Calcutta!]]''
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="9" | <ref name="Grammy">{{cite web|title=Peter Schickele|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/peter-schickele|department=Grammy.com|publisher=[[The Recording Academy]]|access-date=February 8, 2018}}</ref>
|-
| [[32nd Annual Grammy Awards|1990]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album|Best Comedy Recording]]
| ''[[P. D. Q. Bach]]: [[1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults]]''
| rowspan="3" {{won}}
|-
| [[33rd Annual Grammy Awards|1991]]
| ''P. D. Q. Bach: [[Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities]]''
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[34th Annual Grammy Awards|1992]]
| Best Comedy Album
| ''P. D. Q. Bach: [[WTWP Classical Talkity-Talk Radio]]''
|-
| [[Grammy Award for Best Album for Children|Best Album for Children]]
| ''[[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]]: [[Peter and the Wolf]] / A Zoo Called Earth / [[Gerald McBoing-Boing|Gerald McBoing Boing]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[35th Annual Grammy Awards|1993]]
| Best Comedy Album
| ''P. D. Q. Bach: [[Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion]]''
| {{won}}
|-
| [[39th Annual Grammy Awards|1996]]
| Best Spoken Comedy Album
| ''[[The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[42nd Annual Grammy Awards|1999]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album|Best Classical Crossover Album]]
| ''Schickele: Hornsmoke (Piano Concerto No. 2 In F Major "Ole"; Brass Calendar; Hornsmoke – A Horse Opera)''
| {{won}}
|-
| [[47th Annual Grammy Awards|2004]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children|Best Spoken Word Album for Children]]
| ''[[The Emperor's New Clothes]]''
| {{nom}}
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{External links|section|date=January 2024}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|https://www.schickele.com/|Peter Schickele/P.D.Q. Bach website}}
* {{IMDb name|0771352}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{discogs artist|Peter Schickele}}
* [http://www.presser.com/composer/schickele-peter/ Schickele's page at Theodore Presser Company]
* [https://www.myspace.com/peterschickele The Peter Schickele Myspace (Maintained by a fan)]
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/schickele.html Interview with Schickele], February 5, 1988
* [http://www.mlfilms.com/productions/bach_project/peter_schickele Bach Project – Peter Schickele]
* [http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/rafiles/interviews/interview_schickele.ram Peter Schickele interview]
* [https://composingthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/08/peter-schickele.html "Composing Thoughts" radio interview]
* [http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead//nnc-rb/ldpd_11730388 Schickele's papers] at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York

{{P.D.Q. Bach|state=expanded}}
{{Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schickele, Peter}}
[[Category:P. D. Q. Bach| ]]
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American classical composers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:21st-century American classical composers]]
[[Category:American classical bassoonists]]
[[Category:American musicologists]]
[[Category:American opera composers]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:American satirical musicians]]
[[Category:Aspen Music Festival and School alumni]]
[[Category:Classical music radio presenters]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from Iowa]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from North Dakota]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Humor in classical music]]
[[Category:Juilliard School alumni]]
[[Category:American male opera composers]]
[[Category:American parody musicians]]
[[Category:Artists from Ames, Iowa]]
[[Category:People from Fargo, North Dakota]]
[[Category:Pupils of Darius Milhaud]]
[[Category:Pupils of Vincent Persichetti]]
[[Category:Pupils of William Bergsma]]
[[Category:Swarthmore College alumni]]
[[Category:Telarc Records artists]]
[[Category:Vanguard Records artists]]