King of Prussia, PA – Professor Peter Schickele has uncovered yet another piece from the buried library of P.D.Q. Bach. The Monk�s Aria (111-40245 - Score - $7.50), for intermediate to advanced bass singers, appears to be an attempt at Gregorian chant, but is filled with linguistic lapses throughout the Latin text. The Monk, one of seven roles from P.D.Q.�s suspect opera Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice, is a particularly interesting role, since, although he sounds like a man, he turns out to be a woman, who (however) has a beard, and the part is performed (when it is performed at all) by a man.

The Monk�s Aria contains a text rife with intriguing flaws. Phrases such as "Et In Terra Chicken Pax" and "Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi Morning" draw attention to the blatantly simple mind of P.D.Q. Bach. It seems that there is much here that an editor of Professor Schickele�s stature should have caught. Regardless, here it is.

The Monk�s Aria by P.D.Q. Bach, painstakingly excavated by Professor Peter Schickele, is available now through Theodore Presser Company or your favorite music retailer.

In 1954 Professor Peter Schickele, rummaging around a Bavarian castle in search of rare musical gems, happened instead upon the original manuscript of a Sanka Cantata by one P.D.Q. Bach, being employed as a strainer in the caretaker's percolator. A cursory examination of the music immediately revealed the reason for the atrocious taste of the coffee; and when the work was finally performed at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, the Professor realized too late that he had released a monster upon the musical world.

Unable to restrain himself, and with the misguided support of the U. of S.N.D. at H. and otherwise reputable recording and publishing companies, Prof. Schickele has since discovered more than four score of P.D.Q. Bach scores, each one more jaw-dropping than the last, each one another brick in the wall which will someday seal the doom of Musical Culture.

Offering music by today�s greatest composers and teachers, Theodore Presser Company is the oldest continuing music publisher in the United States, dedicated to carrying out the aims and goals its founder established more than a century ago: service, with integrity, to music and musicians, commitment to quality, and a vision for the future. Theodore Presser Company is a full-range music publisher that also distributes the works of more than 70 American and foreign publishers, with a combined sales catalog that features over 60,000 titles.

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