Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On July 17, 1935, American composer and parodist Peter Schickele was born in Ames. Four-time Grammy Award winner for Best Comedy Album, Schickele recorded albums presented as composed by the fictional P.D.Q. Bach.
Schickele spent the first ten years of his life in Iowa while his father taught at Iowa State University. Studying Sigvald Thompson of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra after his father's career took the family to North Dakota State University, Schickele fell in love with music. He went on to study music at Swarthmore College and the Julliard School. While at Julliard, Schickele created the character P.D.Q. Bach while teaming with conductor Jorge Mester to present a humorous concert.
Schickele started his career composing music for folk musicians. Notably, he wrote three albums for Joan Baez during the mid-1960s. He also wrote and performed on the bassoon with the chamber rock trio Open Window. Schickele also continued to develop his Bach character. Developed as the ‘youngest and the oddest’ of Johann Sebastian Bach’s children, the alleged ‘very full professor of Musicology and Musical Pathology’ at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople developed a following.
While P.D.Q. Bach's music brought Schickele Grammys, the composer also created more than 100 other original works for symphony orchestras, choral groups, chamber ensembles, voice, and television. Many would recognize the score he wrote for the animated adaptation and narration of “Where the Wild Things Are.” #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar
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