Peter Schickele Is Fêted (Up) at the Society for Ethical Culture
"Peter was a master of his craft." - Philip Glass (Juilliard classmate)
Despite the occasional overbearing reverence of the concert hall, classical music doesn't always try to be serious. Many attempts have been made over the centuries to lighten things up, both by performers and composers. Unfortunately, most contemporary attempts at classical music humor fail, falling back on tired tropes or sheer buffoonery that show little-to-no musical invention. Turns out it's quite challenging to deliver intelligent humor that appeals to both seasoned listeners and novices alike.
In modern times, no one walked that line better than Peter Schickele, the composer, performer, satirist, impresario, and all-around rascal who died last year after a long illness. Schickele was a true master: sure, he could clown around, but he was also a serious composer with more than 100 works to his credit. Over his seven-decade career, Schickele shared his infectious warmth and joy for music, both in the concert hall and on his long running genre-blending radio show, Schickele Mix.
On Monday night, Schickele's family, friends, and still-excitable fans gathered at the Society for Ethical Culture on the Upper West Side to honor his legacy and hear some of his music. Hosted by WQXR's Elliott Forrest and curated by Peter's daughter Karla, the first half of the evening featured Peter's straight compositions and arrangements, performed by Schickele's children and grandchildren alongside familiar names such as Seth Rudetsky, M Shanghai String Band, and Stephin Merritt from the Magnetic Fields. The performances were interspersed with photos and clips, a poignant reminder of what Peter himself brought to performances of his music.
The second half of the concert featured works by Schickele's "discovery" P.D.Q. Bach: the alleged "last and least" of Johann Sebastian Bach's 20-odd children who defamed the family name with his debauchery, laziness, and general lack of musical talent. Of course, P.D.Q. Bach was Schickele's own invention, and his music was all written by Schickele.
The music selections showed off "Prof. Schickele's" relentless send ups of classical music conventions: his outrageous titles ("My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth"), his faux-Italian names for voices and tempi ("Adagio Saccharino"; "Off-coloratura Soprano"), and his many invented instruments such as the "tuba mirum" (a plastic tube filled with red wine) and the "pastaphone" (an uncooked Manicotti shell), both of which featured in the "Four Folk Upsettings."
The highlight was P.D.Q. Bach's "Schleptet in Eb Major", S. 0, which you could call the opposite of a masterpiece. Conducted while sitting on the floor by longtime Schickele associate Lloyd Peterson, the music was in five short movements (called "shots") that featured overextended sustains and endless repetition. The last "shot", "Presto Hey Nonny Nonnio" is said to show the influence of "a band of gypsies by whom PDQ Bach was impressed, and, as he later discovered, robbed."
The concert ended with an archival recording of Schickele's 1980 commencement address to his alma mater, Swarthmore, which he delivered in the form of a song at the piano. After a few minutes of Peter's sage wisdom to, among other things, "forget everything that you've learned", the entire ensemble came onstage to share his charge to go out, "bouncing down the street." Which, on a sunny early evening on Central Park West, was exactly what I did.
More pics on Instagram.