I stumbled upon the obituary for Peter Schickele about a week after returning from my Disneyland trip. If you’ve not heard of this amazing musician and composer, all I can say is rush to your nearest library and check out the plethora of albums he was produced for the (non-existent) 18th-century composer, P.D.Q. Bach.
My own journey with the self-proclaimed musicologist who “discovered” this lost child of the better known Johann Sebastian Bach began when I was an undergraduate student at the University of Maine. I used to spend long hours in the library digging through the piles of material I needed to memorize as a then-pre-medical student, and to try and make it a slightly more palatable experience, I would grab one of the loaner portable CD players and snag one of the many classical CDs on offer. Though today I far prefer to have smooth jazz as my background, as a student, I often found it easier to study with the relatively calming orchestrations of some of the greatest romantic composers in history.
I’m relatively certainly I thought I had plucked a true Bach album from the rack that particular session; all I recall now is that I thought at the time the cover for 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults was a bit unusual. That became more of a concern when the first track played and “Professor Pete” began to explain the background of the initial piece — and then promptly began to drown when the river he was standing next to flooded.
Hooked, I wound up mesmerized as I went through the rest of the album; at one point, I know I was chuckling loud enough that the student in the next study cubicle over had to tap me on the shoulder to shush me. Not a ton of studying got done that night; the next weekend I was home, I shot down to my favorite music store and stocked up on what albums were then available. I’ve tried to collect all of them — but that would be quite a feat, considering how insanely productive Schickele was. I did lose track of him a while back; once his half-hour show on our local NPR station ended, he sort of retreated into the background. Knowing now he is gone has seen me pulling out everything I own, listening to — and enjoying immensely — every terrible pun and every amazing piece of music that went with them.
Sadly, Professor Pete might be gone — but P.D.Q. Bach will live on forever.