A Little Nightmare Music

Studio album by P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele)

Released

1983

Label

Vanguard Records

P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele) chronology

Music You Can't Get Out of Your Head
(1982)

A Little Nightmare Music
(1983)

1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults
(1989)

A Little Nightmare Music is an opera in "one irrevocable act" by Peter Schickele under the pseudonym he uses for parodies and comical works P. D. Q. Bach. The title of the work refers to the English translation of Mozart's famous Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music). The opera is described as being "based on a dream he had December 4, 1791, the night that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died and Antonio Salieri didn't." The opera was "newly exhumed" (a.k.a. premiered) at Carnegie Hall on December 27, 1982.^[1] It was later recorded with the premiere cast and released on CD by Vanguard Records in 1983. The album also includes two other works by P. D. Q. Bach: an octet (Octoot for wind instruments) and a parody of Handel's Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks, Royal Firewater Musick.

Performers

Professor Peter Schickele conducting the New York Pick-Up Ensemble
James Billings, baritone (Antonio Salieri, a successful composer)
Bruce Ford, tenor (Peter Schläfer, a mysterious writer)
Gerald Tarack, violinist (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a not-successful composer)
Paul Dunkel, flute
Susan Palma, flute
Steve Taylor, oboe
Pamela Epple, oboe
Charles Russo, clarinet
John Moses, clarinet
Lauren Goldstein, bassoon
Jane Taylor, bassoon

Recording

A recording of the original cast of the opera was made. Since the opera is short, the recording also includes two other works by P.D.Q. Bach, Octoot for wind instruments, S. 8 and Royal Firewater Musick, for bottles and orchestra (original version), S. 1/5. The track listing is as follows:

A Little Nightmare Music

1. Aria: "What sweet music" (Salieri)

2. Aria: "Nature gave us eyes" (Schläfer)

3. Duet: "Uh Oh"

4. Finale: "What hutzpah!"

Octoot

5. Vite, tout de suite

6. Lent, tout au moins

7. Minuet et, tout à l'heure, trio

8. Chanson: "Toute l'année, hey, hey, hey"

9. Tout à coup le bout

Royal Firewater Musick

10. Long; neat; long

11. March on the rocks

12. Minuet with a twist

13. Sarabande straight up

14. One for the road

Sources

↑ "New P. D. Q. Bach finds to be played" by Eleanor Blau, The New York Times, December 27, 1982 (subscription required)]

P.D.Q. Bach: A Little Nightmare Music

External links

The Key of P. D. Q. Bach

P. D. Q. Bach

see also Peter Schickele

Albums	An Evening with P.D.Q. Bach (1965) An Hysteric Return (1966) Report from Hoople: P. D. Q. Bach on the Air (1967) The Stoned Guest (1970) The Wurst of P. D. Q. Bach (1971) The Intimate P. D. Q. Bach (1974) Portrait of P. D. Q. Bach (1977) Black Forest Bluegrass (1979) Liebeslieder Polkas (1980) Music You Can't Get Out of Your Head (1982) A Little Nightmare Music (1983) 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults (1989) Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities (1990) WTWP Classical Talkity-Talk Radio (1991) Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion (1992) Two Pianos Are Better Than One (1994) The Short-Tempered Clavier and other dysfunctional works for keyboard (1995) The Dreaded P. D. Q. Bach Collection (1996) The Ill-Conceived P. D. Q. Bach Anthology (1998) The Jekyll and Hyde Tour (2007)

Compositions	The Abduction of Figaro Concerto for Horn and Hardart Echo Sonata for Two Unfriendly Groups of Instruments Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons The Stoned Guest Suite No. 2 for Cello All By Its Lonesome

Videos / DVDs	The Abduction of Figaro (1984) P. D. Q. Bach in Houston: We Have a Problem! (2006)

Books	The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach, 1807 – 1742? (1976, by Prof. Peter Schickele)

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