A bit of sad news I heard today from S.J.: Peter Schikele, best known for being the “discoverer” of the “music” of P.D.Q. Bach - a composer whose plagiarism, as Schikele once commented, was limited only by his faulty technique - died this week at his home in New York. Thank you Professor Schikele for the many hours of laughter listening to such messterpieces as Iphegenia in Brooklyn, The Grand Oratorio The Seasonings, The Concerto for Two Pianos versus Orchestra, The Ill-Tempered Clavier, the rarely heard and only once performed (thank goodness) Hindenburg Concerto, and above all, The Abduction of Figaro, which I had the privilege of being at the world premier in Minneapolis in the 1980s
Here’s the jaw-dropping finale of the Grand Oratorio The Seasonings: “To Curry Favor, Favor Curry”. You might recognize a few badly played instruments, a few instruments you’ve never heard of before (like the wind breaker), some “unusual” orchestration and harmonies, and, for those paying attention, a little “borrowing” from Haendel.
. Of course, it did not hurt to have a dog as an important feature of the work, being the cynophile that I am. Anyway, here it is; Requiesce in Pace, my old friend:
