The Short-Tempered Clavier and other dysfunctional works for keyboard was released in 1995 by Telarc Records. The album contains works by Peter Schickele

Peter Schickele

Johann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...

, sometimes under his pseudonym of P. D. Q. Bach

P. D. Q. Bach

P. D. Q. Bach is a fictitious composer invented by musical satirist "Professor" Peter Schickele. In a gag that Schickele has developed over a five-decade-long career, he performs "discovered" works of this forgotten member of the Bach family...

, including "works for various types of keyboards, including theatre organ, calliope

Calliope (music)

A calliope is a musical instrument that produces sound by sending a gas, originally steam or more recently compressed air, through large whistles, originally locomotive whistles....

, the ever popular piano, and the organ of the King Congregational Church of Fayray, North Dakota." The title is a parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

's Well-Tempered Clavier

The Well-Tempered Clavier

The Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach...

.

Performers

• Professor Peter Schickele, steam calliope, organ
• Christopher O'Riley, famous concert pianist
• Dennis James, famous theater organist
• David Robinson, whoever he is

Track listing

1. Opening & Introduction (4:50)

The Short-Tempered Clavier, Prelude

Prelude (music)

A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...

s and Fugue

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

s in all the Major and Minor Keys Except for the Really Hard Ones, S. easy as 3.14159265

Pi

' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants...

 (P.D.Q. Bach)

2. I. C major

C major

C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

 (2:46)

3. II. C minor

C minor

C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The harmonic minor raises the B to B. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.Its key signature consists of three flats...

 (1:48)

4. III. C-sharp minor (3:35)

5. IV. D major

D major

D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....

 (1:32)

6. V. D minor

D minor

D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....

 (2:28)

7. VI. E-flat major (2:19)

8. VII. F major

F major

F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...

 (4:01)

9. VIII. G minor

G minor

G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. For the harmonic minor scale, the F is raised to F. Its relative major is B-flat major, and its parallel major is G major....

 (2:02)

10. IX. G major

G major

G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...

 (2:33)

11. X. A major

A major

A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps.Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor...

 (3:37)

12. XI. A minor

A minor

A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...

 (1:39)

13. XII. B-flat major (3:13)

14. Introduction (3:16)

Little Pickle Book for theater organ and dill piccolos, S. 6 (P.D.Q. Bach)

15. I. Toccata

Toccata

Toccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers...

 et Fuga Obnoxia (3:52)

16. II. Chorale Prelude

Chorale prelude

In music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein.-Function:The liturgical...

 (Ave Maria

Ave Maria

Ave Maria may refer to:*Ave Maria , the "Hail Mary", a traditional Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox prayer calling for the intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus-Music:...

 et Agnus Dei) (1:49)

17. III. Fantasia

Fantasia (music)

The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form ....

 sopra "Fräulein Maria Mack" (1:36)

18. IV. Lullaby

Lullaby

A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to young children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in every culture and since the ancient period....

 and Goodnight (2:35)

19. Introduction (1:16)

Sonata

Sonata

Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...

 Da Circo (Circus Sonata) for steam calliope, S. 3 ring (P.D.Q. Bach)

20. I. Spiel Vorspiel (2:34)

21. II. Entrada Grande (3:07)

22. III. Smokski the Russian Bear (1:23)

23. IV. Toccata Ecdysi

Ecdysis

Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticula in many invertebrates. This process of moulting is the defining feature of the clade Ecdysozoa, comprising the arthropods, nematodes, velvet worms, horsehair worms, rotifers, tardigrades and Cephalorhyncha...

astica

Striptease

A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...

 (1:05)

24. Calliope Frustration (0:42)

25. Introduction (1:07)

Three Chorale-Based Piecelets for Organ, S. III (P.D.Q. Bach)

26. I. Chorale: "Orally" (2:05)

27. II. Chorale Prelude on an American Hymn for the Last Sunday Before the Fourth Day of the Seventh Month After New Year's Eve (1:24)

28. III. Chorale Variations

Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...

 on "In der Nacht so Hell, der Petrus ist mein Freund" (5:23)

29. Epilogue (1:24)

Technical Information

• The Short-Tempered Clavier was recorded in Mechanics Hall (Worcester, Massachusetts), February 22, 1995
• Little Pickle Book was recorded on the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ in the Imperial Spud Theater, Hoople, North Dakota
  Hoople, North Dakota
  As of the census of 2000, there were 292 people, 133 households, and 79 families residing in the city. The population density was 817.0 people per square mile . There were 148 housing units at an average density of 414.1 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 97.60% White, 0.68% Native...
  
  , April 11, 1995, with additional recording at Commercial Recording Studio, Studio 1, Cleveland, Ohio
  Cleveland, Ohio
  Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
  
  , May 1, 1995
• Sonata Da Circo was recorded on a Morecraft Steam Calliope at the International Circus Hall of Fame, Peru, Indiana
  Peru, Indiana
  -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 12,994 people, 5,410 households, and 3,397 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,815.5 people per square mile . There were 5,943 housing units at an average density of 1,287.7 per square mile...
  
  , May 30, 1995
• Three Chorale-Based Piecelets was recorded next to the feedlots at King Congregational Church, Fayray, North Dakota, May 1, 1995

Sources

• P.D.Q. Bach: The Short-Tempered Clavier