P D Q Bach

Many people know composer Peter Schickele only in his immensely popular guise as the "discoverer" of works by P.D.Q. Bach, the fictitious black-sheep son of J.S. Bach. Schickele has unearthed such long-lost P.D.Q. hits as "The Short-Tempered Clavier and Other Dysfunctional Works for Keyboard," "Shepherd on the Rocks With a Twist" and "Twelve Quite Heavenly Songs" (which consists of five songs). "There are almost 100 P.D.Q.

Scale isn't everything, even in opera. What this weekend's Ventura College Opera Workshop program lacks in grandness, it makes up for in resourcefulness and daring. It will present a pair of fully staged, compact comic operas, plucked from wildly different sources. Mozart's "The Impresario" is a satire of the music business (a ripe target even in the 18th century), about feuding divas. From a more recent vintage and an odd corner of the music world comes "Oedipus Tex," by P.D.Q. Bach--a.k.a.

In the wake of Peter Schickele's impending retirement from touring, one thing we'll learn quickly is whether P.D.Q. Bach can survive without him. The tentative answer from the Irvine Symphony, Sunday afternoon, was yes--as long as everyone sticks to the Urtext , as it were. Using the modern, intimate facilities of the Irvine Barclay Theatre, P.D.Q.

Many people know composer Peter Schickele only in his immensely popular guise as the "discoverer" of works by P.D.Q. Bach, the fictitious black-sheep son of J.S. Bach. Schickele has unearthed such long-lost P.D.Q. hits as "The Short-Tempered Clavier and Other Dysfunctional Works for Keyboard," "Shepherd on the Rocks With a Twist" and "Twelve Quite Heavenly Songs" (which consists of five songs). "There are almost 100 P.D.Q.

It is 30 minutes before curtain with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Peter Schickele is in his dressing room, rehearsing lines sotto voce and writing notes. "As I get older, I have to write these things bigger and bigger," Schickele sighs. "And your handwriting is getting worse and worse," adds Bill Walters, Schickele's longtime stage manager and straight man. "That's not possible," Schickele retorts. The sight is subtly incongruous.

Trust Peter Schickele, musical funster and alter ego of the mythical P.D.Q. Bach, to prove that the long-lost art of improvisation is, well, lost. When his big moment came to play a created-on-the-spot cadenza in P.D.Q.'s "Fantasieshtick" for Piano and Orchestra Wednesday at Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Schickele paused, hesitated, mused, agonized, ventured some possibilities in the air and finally threw in the towel.

Period instruments will resound during most of the 19th annual Baroque Music Festival Corona del Mar, to be held June 20-27 at two locations: St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church and the Sherman Library and Gardens. The festival will open June 20 at 4 p.m. at St. Michael with festival director Burton Karson conducting works by Corrette, Sammartini and Vivaldi. Marianne Pfau will be the recorder soloist in a rarely heard concerto for soprano recorder by Sammartini.

Scale isn't everything, even in opera. What this weekend's Ventura College Opera Workshop program lacks in grandness, it makes up for in resourcefulness and daring. It will present a pair of fully staged, compact comic operas, plucked from wildly different sources. Mozart's "The Impresario" is a satire of the music business (a ripe target even in the 18th century), about feuding divas. From a more recent vintage and an odd corner of the music world comes "Oedipus Tex," by P.D.Q. Bach--a.k.a.

For more than 20 years, Peter Schickele has been exhuming the comically inept compositions of P.D.Q. Bach and feeding them to a public that seemingly can't get enough of such tasteless morsels as the "Sanka" Cantata and the Schleptet. On Tuesday night, the bearded musical satirist once again offers some of his "discoveries" at a Los Angeles Philharmonic-sponsored concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Peter Schickele is the 20th Century's preeminent case of musical schizophrenia: two distinct composers forced to inhabit the same person. The serious Schickele turns out commissions with respectable titles such as String Quartet No. 3, "Monochrome VI" and "Dream Dances" for flute, oboe and cello. The other Schickele--who uses the name P.D.Q. Bach--pens works named Schleptet in E-flat, the "Unbegun" Symphony, "Fuga Meshuga" and a full-length opera titled "The Abduction of Figaro."

It's not easy being funny all the time. Just ask Peter Schickele, who has been busy "discovering" the musical malapropisms of P.D.Q. Bach for 41 years now and counting. He is just coming out of a 10-year hold on touring the elaborate musical parody shows devoted to the skewed inspirations of "the last and least of the Bachs," saving his P.D.Q. efforts for an annual Christmas bash at Carnegie Hall, and recordings that gave him a lock on the best comedy album Grammy in the early 1990s.

Period instruments will resound during most of the 19th annual Baroque Music Festival Corona del Mar, to be held June 20-27 at two locations: St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church and the Sherman Library and Gardens. The festival will open June 20 at 4 p.m. at St. Michael with festival director Burton Karson conducting works by Corrette, Sammartini and Vivaldi. Marianne Pfau will be the recorder soloist in a rarely heard concerto for soprano recorder by Sammartini.

Here in the busy, bulging middle of the concert season, choral music is bursting forth in Ventura County as if it were the principal agenda instead of an offshoot in the classical music universe. Perhaps the choral tradition is more of a center-stage contender in this region than elsewhere. Looking at the local concert schedule of late, you'd think so.

If you're weary of ringing in the new year with traditional melodies, give "Yellow Submarine" a try. The Santa Barbara Symphony plans to welcome 1995 with the Beatles and other composers in its New Year's Pops Concert on Saturday at Arlington Theater. Conductor Gisele Ben-Dor will lead the ensemble through the Lennon-McCartney song as well as the overture to "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss Jr., Bizet's "March of the Toreadors," Gershwin's "Girl Crazy" and the "Unbegun Symphony" by P.D.Q.

It is 30 minutes before curtain with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Peter Schickele is in his dressing room, rehearsing lines sotto voce and writing notes. "As I get older, I have to write these things bigger and bigger," Schickele sighs. "And your handwriting is getting worse and worse," adds Bill Walters, Schickele's longtime stage manager and straight man. "That's not possible," Schickele retorts. The sight is subtly incongruous.

In the wake of Peter Schickele's impending retirement from touring, one thing we'll learn quickly is whether P.D.Q. Bach can survive without him. The tentative answer from the Irvine Symphony, Sunday afternoon, was yes--as long as everyone sticks to the Urtext , as it were. Using the modern, intimate facilities of the Irvine Barclay Theatre, P.D.Q.

Peter Schickele, the usually delirious alter ego of P.D.Q. Bach, didn't swing down to the stage of the Embassy Theatre Tuesday night via a rope ladder from the balcony. Too bad. He just strolled on, looking amiable and a bit sheepish. Without ado about anything, he plunked himself down at the keyboard. He didn't wear his usual uniform--slightly slept-in formal attire with an eternally unruly shirttail hanging out, plus brown workman's shoes.

It's not easy being funny all the time. Just ask Peter Schickele, who has been busy "discovering" the musical malapropisms of P.D.Q. Bach for 41 years now and counting. He is just coming out of a 10-year hold on touring the elaborate musical parody shows devoted to the skewed inspirations of "the last and least of the Bachs," saving his P.D.Q. efforts for an annual Christmas bash at Carnegie Hall, and recordings that gave him a lock on the best comedy album Grammy in the early 1990s.

Trust Peter Schickele, musical funster and alter ego of the mythical P.D.Q. Bach, to prove that the long-lost art of improvisation is, well, lost. When his big moment came to play a created-on-the-spot cadenza in P.D.Q.'s "Fantasieshtick" for Piano and Orchestra Wednesday at Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Schickele paused, hesitated, mused, agonized, ventured some possibilities in the air and finally threw in the towel.

Peter Schickele is the 20th Century's preeminent case of musical schizophrenia: two distinct composers forced to inhabit the same person. The serious Schickele turns out commissions with respectable titles such as String Quartet No. 3, "Monochrome VI" and "Dream Dances" for flute, oboe and cello. The other Schickele--who uses the name P.D.Q. Bach--pens works named Schleptet in E-flat, the "Unbegun" Symphony, "Fuga Meshuga" and a full-length opera titled "The Abduction of Figaro."