Peter Schickele’s “Last Tango in Bayreuth”: An Awful Lot of Bassoons

Last Wednesday, May 22, marked the 211th anniversary of Wagner’s birth. During his lifetime, the German Romanticist became a cult-like figure, revealing magical new orchestral colors and pushing tonality and formal scale to their ecstatic limits. In contrast with Brahms the traditionalist, Wagner appeared to offer a radical new vision. Looking back on Wagner’s work, Claude Debussy more accurately described it as “a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn.”

The late American composer and humorist, Peter Schickele (a.k.a. “PDQ Bach”), paid homage to Wagner with his Last Tango in Bayreuth, written for bassoon quartet. Bayreuth is the Bavarian town where Wagner settled, and where he built an opera house specifically suited to the presentation of his works. Here, musical fragments from Tristan und Isolde and Lohengrin are played with deadpan wit by an instrument that has long been known as the clown of the orchestra. Schickele’s Last Tango relishes the dissonance and open-ended, resolution-defying release of the iconic “Tristan chord,” which is repeated throughout the piece.

This recording, featuring the Tennessee Bassoon Quartet, is the closing excerpt from Schickele’s 1992 album, Music for an Awful Lot of Winds & Percussion:

Recordings

• Schickele: Last Tango in Bayreuth, Tennessee Bassoon Quartet Amazon

Featured Image: photograph by Peter Schaaf