History Music / PDQBach

P. D. Q. Bach is a fairly obscure member of the Bach family (being the last, least, and certainly oddest of Music/JohannSebastianBach's 20-odd children) who lived from 1807–1742[[MerlinSickness (?)]]. As with much of his family, he began a career as a musician; unlike much of his family, he was both GiftedlyBad and extremely prolific. After his death he was promptly forgotten by history, and most of his compositions were suppressed by the Bachs to protect the family name; what we do know of him is primarily the work of one Professor Peter Schickele (July 17, 1935 – January 16, 2024) of the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. Schickele has spent much of his career not only researching the life of this obscure historical figure, but also discovering his works and performing them for modern audiences.

* BerserkButton: The Prof's WTWP co-host Blondie is driven insane by Pachelbel's Canon, almost DrivenToSuicide. Especially at a time when she's on the verge of being let go by the station's head.

P. D. Q. Bach is a fairly obscure member of the Bach family (being the last, least, and certainly oddest of Music/JohannSebastianBach's 20-odd children) who lived from 1807-1742[[MerlinSickness (?)]]. As with much of his family, he began a career as a musician; unlike much of his family, he was both GiftedlyBad and extremely prolific. After his death he was promptly forgotten by history, and most of his compositions were suppressed by the Bachs to protect the family name; what we do know of him is primarily the work of one Professor Peter Schickele (July 17, 1935 - January 16, 2024) of the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. Schickele has spent much of his career not only researching the life of this obscure historical figure, but also discovering his works and performing them for modern audiences.

P. D. Q. Bach is a fairly obscure member of the Bach family (being the last, least, and certainly oddest of Music/JohannSebastianBach's 20-odd children) who lived from 1807-1742[[MerlinSickness (?)]]. As with much of his family, he began a career as a musician; unlike much of his family, he was both GiftedlyBad and extremely prolific. After his death he was promptly forgotten by history, and most of his compositions were suppressed by the Bachs to protect the family name; what we do know of him is primarily the work of one Professor Peter Schickele (born July 17, 1935) of the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. Schickele has spent much of his career not only researching the life of this obscure historical figure, but also discovering his works and performing them for modern audiences.

[[OedipusComplex Don't love your mother]], save it for your horse.\\

-->"The crowd is getting very excited. The brasses have come in and the tympani and everybody, and it's extremely exciting! I think we're building up to a fugue!"

* ViewersAreGeniuses: The more you know about ClassicalMusic, the funnier you'll find the jokes.

** "So This Guy," the last movement of the "Knock Knock Cantata," offers one of these. There's also a sketch on the ''1712 Overture'' CD that turns out to be a long build-up to the punchline, "I've just always wanted to [[spoiler:give Burt Bach a rock]]."

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The ''Concerto For Horn & Hardart'' is a play on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_%26_Hardart Horn & Hardart]] restaurant chain, which went out of business in the early 90's. Obviously, this joke is mostly lost on younger listeners.

%%* AffectionateParody

** "Come un pipistrello fuori dall' inferno" (finale of the "Howdy" Symphony) = "Like a BatOutOfHell"

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: 'The 'Sanka' Cantata'' is mostly puns on the names of the people whose house they recorded it in. More bizarrely, the role of the discoverer was played by David Schickele as Sir Osbronk Chapie, Bart.

When I hear people calling us well-off.

* IncrediblyLongNote: Parodied at one point in ''The Stoned Guest'', when the soprano runs out of air and has to catch her breath, getting called out on it by the mezzo.

* YourMom: ''The Art of the Ground Round'' has a verse not found on the LP, ''Who, oh Who'' where the three voices combine to sing “your mother wear army shoes.”

* YourMom: ''The Art of the Ground Round'' has a verse not found on the LP, ''Who, oh Who'' where the three voices combine to sing “your mother war army shoes.”

* ForegoneConclusion: Since ''Oedipus Tex'' is ''Theatre/OedipusRex'' [[RecycledInSpace IN THE WILD WEST]], it's pretty clear what's gonna happen, and the opening GreekChorus figuratively and [[SpellingSong literally]] spells it all out.

** For the latter piece, the part where it’s easiest to hear the music is the main joke in the actual piece: A Dixieland band tries to replace the oboes, and has to be kicked out.

* AffectionateParody

* EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes

* IncrediblyLongNote: Parodied at one point in ''Oedipus Tex'', when the soprano runs out of air and has to catch her breath, getting called out on it by the mezzo.

* StylisticSuck: Peter Schickele is a Julliard-trained composer and performer, but the level of unoriginality and poor music theory in PDQ Bach's work certainly makes it seem otherwise.