Review: Hindenburg Concerto


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Posted by Steve Marcus on February 23, 2003 at 15:00:55:

A few weeks ago, I posted an inquiry about the Hindenburg Concerto by P.D.Q. Bach. Either no one reading the BBS had previously performed it, or any lurker who did play it refused to admit it. So now that the parts were handed out at orchestra rehearsal this week, I’m taking the liberty (alluding to another recent post), with your indulgence (and I might be entirely without it--but it’s too late now, you’re reading this), to provide my own response.

The tuba part in the Hindenburg Concerto quotes the Brandenburg Concerto #3 juxtaposed with “Sailor’s Hornpipe.” There are also some cuckoo calls exchanged between the tuba and the piccolo. The second movement is tacet, so you have time to catch up on the Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach to guarantee that your performance is authentic. Most of the tuba part is in the cash register of the instrument, but the third movement contains an exposed D third space jumping to D above middle C. The lowest note in the entire piece is EE.

There are few surprises in this 8-minute work if you’re familiar with the oeuvre of P.D.Q. Bach. The instrumentation is not unlike his papa’s Brandenburg Concertos. But the addition of a single trombone and tuba are indicative of P.D.Q. Bach’s “unique” orchestration skills, especially since the composition of this piece anteceded the invention of the tuba by at least 28 years. Frankly, balance can be an issue unless you play fairly lightly. Although virtually absent of the visual pranks that dominate many of P.D.Q. Bach’s other works, the Hindenburg Concerto possesses a sizeable quotient of fun.

In the previous posts about the Hindenburg Concerto, there was an explanation of Professor Schickele’s catalog number S. LZ 129. Apparently, he changed this catalog number (which he has done with other P.D.Q. Bach pieces as he “discovers” more of them) from its original designation S. 3-3-3 that appears on the manuscript. What would be the significance of that catalog number?




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