P. D. Q. Bach Wiki


  • Model: The piece is a quodlibet based on Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," which is played in its entirety, with other pieces played as the counterpoint. Schickele lists this piece under his own name, rather than P. D. Q. Bach, since it quotes from works which did not exist during P. D. Q. Bach's lifetime.
  • Pieces referenced:
    • 1st movement: (Allegro)
      • Turkey in the Straw
      • Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 (first movement)
      • Brahms: Symphony No. 3 (fourth movement)
      • Mozart: "La Ci Darem del Mano" from "Don Giovanni"
      • Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 (first movement)
      • Mozart: "Voi Che Sapate" from "The Marriage of Figaro”
      • Song of the Volga Boatmen
      • D'ye Ken John Peel?
      • Mozart: Symphony No. 1 (first movement)
      • La Raspa
      • Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 (first movement)
      • Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 (first movement)
      • Sousa: The Thunderer March
      • Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (fourth movement)
      • Mozart: Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" (fourth movement)
      • Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" (first movement)
      • Brahms: Symphony No. 3 (fourth movement) (Reprise)
      • Brahms: Symphony No. 4 (first movement)
      • Goodbye Old Paint
      • Mozart: Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" (first movement)
      • Handel: "For Unto Us a Child Is Born" from "Messiah"
      • Handel: "All we like sheep have gone astray" from "Messiah"
      • Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (4th movement)
      • Daniel Emmett: I Wish I Was in Dixie
      • Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 (first movement)
      • Tchaikovsky: "March" from "The Nutcracker"
      • Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 (first movement) (reprise)
    • 2nd movement: (Romanze: Andante)
      • Stephen Foster: "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair "
      • Tchaikovsky: None but the Lonely Heart
      • Mary had a Little Lamb
      • Tchaikovsky: Scene from "Swan Lake"
      • Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 (first movement)
      • Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
      • Franck: Symphony in D minor (first movement)
      • Mendelssohn: "Spring Song" from "Song Without Words"
      • Brahms: Symphony No. 4 (first movement)
      • Auld Lang Syne
      • Verdi: "Anvil Chorus" from Il Trovatore
      • Wagner: Prelude from "Tristan und Isolde"
      • Alouette, Gentil Alouette
      • B-A-C-H motif
      • Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 (third movement)
    • 3rd movement:
      • Here We Go, Loopty Loo,
      • Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (first movement)
      • Albert Von Tilzer: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
      • Mussorgsky: "Glory to the Sun" from "Boris Godunov"
      • Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?
      • Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (third Movement)
    • 4th movement:
      • Stephen Foster: "Oh, Susanna"
      • Rossini: Overture to William Tell
      • Schubert: Marche Militaire no. 1
      • Franck: Symphony in D minor, (third movement)
      • Sullivan: "Miya Sama" from "Mikado"
      • Grieg: "In the Hall of Mountain King" from "Peer Gynt"
      • Schubert: Erlkönig
      • Mussorgsky: "Varlaam's Song" from "Boris Godunov"
      • Jacob Gade: Jalousie
      • Mozart: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Ah Vous Dirai-Je, Maman)
      • Franck: Symphony in D minor (third movement)
      • Stephen Foster: Old Black Joe
      • Mozart: Symphony No. 29 (fourth movement)
      • Stravinsky: Finale from Petrushka
      • Humperdinck: , Act 1, Scene 1 from "Hansel and Gretel" (Brother, Come and Dance with Me)
      • Offenbach: "Can Can" from "Orpheus in the Underworld"
      • Schumann: Symphony No. 1 "Spring" (first movement)
      • The Streets of Cairo or Snake Chamber
      • Mussorgsky: "Great Gate of Kiev" from "Pictures at an Exhibition"
      • Westminster Quarter Chime
      • Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (first movement)
      • Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks