The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach [Paperback]

Peter Schickele (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1977

What little-known son of a famous genius has been called:

"A musical blight"

"A one-man plague"

"History's most justifiably neglected composer"

"The worst musician ever to trod organ pedals" "A pimple on the face of music"

In this long-awaited hoax, possibly the most unimportant piece of scholarship in over two thousand years, Professor Peter Schickele has finally succeeded in ripping the veil of obscurity from the most unusual -- to put it kindly -- composer in the history of music: P.D.Q. Bach, the last and unquestionably the least of the great Johann Sebastian Bach's many children.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Absolutely grossing reading...I loved every minutiae of it. I recommend it to all with a bent ear."

-- Pinchas Zukerman

"As with all of Peter Schickele's musical musings, this is superb humor reflecting a boundless knowledge of the world of music."

-- Victor Borge

An "eminently readable and vastly enjoyable book."

-- Isaac Stern

"But how can I explain to outsiders the humor so delicate, the mirth evanescent, the je ne sais quoi of this handsome and hilarious book?"

-- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

From the Inside Flap

What little-known son of a famous genius has been called:

"A musical blight"

"A one-man plague"

"History's most justifiably neglected composer"

"The worst musician ever to trod organ pedals" "A pimple on the face of music"

In this long-awaited hoax, possibly the most unimportant piece of scholarship in over two thousand years, Professor Peter Schickele has finally succeeded in ripping the veil of obscurity from the most unusual -- to put it kindly -- composer in the history of music: P.D.Q. Bach, the last and unquestionably the least of the great Johann Sebastian Bach's many children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Random House (August 12, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394734092
• ISBN-13: 978-0394734095
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Side-splittingly funny, April 9, 2001

By 

P. J. Anderson (Joliet, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach (Paperback)

A hilarious fake biography of the fictional, "last and certainly least" child of Johann Sebastian Bach. P.D.Q. spends most of his young life rebelling against his family's artistic legacy before he finally realizes that having the name Bach means that people will pay him good money for mediocre musical works.

And mediocre they are--besides being a drunk and a philanderer, he has no musical talent whatsoever. Which doesn't stop him from creating some of the most inept, bizarre and funny art the world has ever seen. Great stuff, even if you have no knowledge of classical music.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious!, May 4, 2000

By 

H. F. Gibbard "Noir Guy" (Dark City, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pdq Bach, The Definitive Biography Of (Audio Cassette)

I first read this hilariously absurd book when I was in college. My only regret is that I read it in a public place, so I had to stifle the nearly-uncontrollable fits of laughter it provoked. Only Peter Schickele would solemnly explain that a suite for "divers instruments" was not actually performed with scuba gear, or that the left-handed sewer flute is nearly extinct as an instrument because most of them ended up back underground. Only Schickele would write a classical piece featuring ocarina and plucked strings (ok; so that's not true; Gyorgy Ligeti did it, too--but maybe Ligeti read this book!)

In short, this is the best written satire on classical music ever produced. It gives classical music the same treatment as the "Airplane" movies gave Irwin Allen films--one joke after another after another...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Certainly the best book of its kind, whatever that is., October 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach (Paperback)

From the opening frontispiece (a page of score from a composition whose words consist of "front is") to the closing index (where you can look up the page numbers of both the index and the reference to the index in the table of contents), everything in this book is funny. It traces the life and music of P.D.Q. Bach from Early Infancy (1742-1745) and Late Infancy (1745-1766) through his final creative period, Contrition, to give you a music history education you just won't get anywhere else. Lots of unusual pictures of unpicturable things, odd descriptions of indescribable instruments and strange explanations of inexplicable music. It lacks lots of the more recent research on this subject, but so does every other book, so this remains the best book of its kind, whatever that is.