P.D.Q. Bach

Who is P.D.Q. Bach?

P. D. Q. Bach is a fictitious composer invented by musical satirist "Professor" Peter Schickele. In a gag that Schickele has developed over a five-decade-long career, he performs "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines parodies of musicological scholarship, the conventions of Baroque and classical music, and slapstick comedy.

The name "P. D. Q." is a parody of the three-part names given to some members of the Bach family that are commonly reduced to initials, such as C. P. E., for Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. PDQ is an initialism for "pretty damn quick".

On several recordings, Schickele states that he is a professor at the fictitious University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. The town of Hoople, North Dakota, actually exists, but it is in the northeastern part of the state.

For years, Schickele regularly toured, and he has recorded on the Vanguard and Telarc labels.