October 27 | Commemorations—Classical Humor, Romantic Grandeur
A musical tribute to a true classical music “odd couple”: Peter Schickele and Anton Bruckner! Schickele, American composer and side-splitting humorist, was the pseudo-scholarly “discoverer” of the fictitious (and feckless) PDQ Bach, long-lost twenty-first child of JS Bach. Schickele’s Eine kleine Nichtmusik affectionately spoofs Mozart’s classic A Little Night-Music, combining Mozart’s timeless score with a hilarious array of musical quotations. Bruckner, whose 200th birthday we celebrate, is one of the most original symphonic composers of all time. His Symphony No. 4, “Romantic,” is an unforgettable evocation of the medieval world of gallant knights and fair damsels—prepare to be swept away by its lyricism and monumental grandeur. And oh, that brass!