[Magdalen] Florence Foster Jenkins.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Peter Schickele comes to mind.  He has a piece by him, which he also wrote
(as he would put it), in which he begins with the Bassoon (his actual
instrument), then playing on it as one by one the parts are removed, til
all that's left is the bocal!  I loved his show, "Schickele Mix," in which
he continually showed how all the genres of music are essentially the same,
or have very similar things going on, and he had the savvy to know how to
lead you through the thickets of erudition and show the basics behind the
curtain.

In the cantata, "Iphigenia in Brooklyn," which he discovered from the works
of P.D.Q.Bach, there is one section where he scores musicians playing the
double reeds, but without the use of oboes or bassoons, as well as a
trumpet mouthpiece (bereft of its trumpet). That same movement has -- for
no particular discernible reason -- a cantus firmus ("Jesus Loves me, this
I know").

I caught his act at the Bardavon Opera house a few years ago.  He has a
schtick of always arriving very late, and his faithful assistant walks
around the stage, looking increasingly upset, shading his eyes as he looks
far to the left and to the right.  Then finally, he begins to announce that
since Maestro Schickele has not arrived, with deep regret, they will have
to --
Then: Schickele did actually swing down onto the stage on a rope.
(Shouting, "Don't cancel! Don't cancel!")
He had a marvelous act, full of fun and gags and incredible insight into
this amazing thing we call music.

He produced a number of compositions based on collected themes from tons of
classical works compressed together in one extended piece.
Probably the best and most brilliant is the Quodlibet for Chamber
Orchestra,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3SHc5KNv_k

and a close second is his composition for full orchestra of Mozart's Kleine
Nachtmusik, ("Eine Kleine Nichtmusik") in which the other instruments have
entirely new parts, lampooning every musical cliche in the books.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_j6yU4Whg

One work, based on the absence of any info on what was happening in 1712,
resulted in the 1712 Overture, in which PDQ celebrates his Dad being in the
Colonies to test a new organ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWF2gDZU52U
A technically better performance, but without the sight gags:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQVehnkc68M

In our CD of music from the Hudson Valley, we (Kairos, a small choir,
artists-in-residence at Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY) included a
piece by him from his early years, setting some Japanese poetry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTMNFcDWvts

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 8:51 PM, <thedonboyd at austin.rr.com> wrote:

> Poor Florence!
>
> I learned about the unintentionally hilarious FFJ in the 1950s from my
> organ teacher, who not only initiated me into the mysteries of Bach,
> Vierne, Durufle, Reger, and too many other ecclesiastical musicians to
> name, but also exposed this Texas country boy to (the intentionally
> hilarious) Anna Russell and the subversive Tom Lehrer.
>
> Later I came across, and actually heard in performance, Victor Borge,
> whose musicianly comedy was of a somewhat different sort.
>
> If there have been musical satirist/comedians practicing in this vein
> since Borge I've missed them.  Anybody know of later, or even current,
> performers of this ilk?
>
> Don in Austin
>