[Magdalen] Florence Foster Jenkins.

[Grace Cangialosi]

My community choir did three of his Christmas pieces years ago: "Throw the Yule Log On, Uncle John," "Oh Little Town of Hackensack," and a third, the name of which escapes me.
And a few years later, for First Night Charlottesville, I sang with a group that gave two performances of the cantata "The Seasonings." It was hard to keep a straight face while singing such movements as "If You've Got the Money, Honey, I've Got the Thyme" and "Summer Is A-Cumin In."
I'm going to check out the links you have, James--should make for some good chuckles!

> On Aug 1, 2015, at 3:26 AM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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
>>