---
name: "Peter Schickele"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/peter-schickele"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "17 July 1935"
died: "16 January 2024"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-21T03:23:07.513230+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Peter Schickele

Composer. Born 17 July 1935 in Ames, Iowa, USA. Died 16 January 2024.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 17 July 1935, Ames, Iowa, USA
- **Died:** 16 January 2024
- **Also known as:** P. D. Q. Bach
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schickele, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1354646, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771352/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/12118

## Biography

Peter Schickele (17 July 1935 – 16 January 2024) was an American composer, musical educator and parodist. He studied at Swarthmore College, graduating in 1957, and at the Juilliard School, where he earned a master's degree in 1960.

Schickele composed the original score for the 1972 science-fiction film *Silent Running*. He is best known for his creation of the fictional composer P. D. Q. Bach, whose works he presented in concerts and on more than a dozen comedy albums. Four of these recordings won consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album between 1990 and 1993.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, archive.ph, the-numbers.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Silent Running* (1972), Fi1m 76, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/silent-running.md)

## Complete filmography (16)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *No Turning Back: Scoring Silent Running* (2020), Music
- *P.D.Q. Bach in Houston: We Have a Problem!* (2006), as Professor Peter Schickele · Writer
- *'Silent Running': A Discussion With Bruce Dern 'Lowell Freeman'* (2002), Music
- *'Silent Running' By Director Douglas Trumbull* (2002), Sound
- *Douglas Trumbull: Then and Now* (2002), Music
- *Where the Wild Things Are... and other Maurice Sendak Stories* (2001), Actor
- *In The Night Kitchen* (1987), as Narrator
- *P.D.Q. Bach: The Abduction of Figaro* (1984), Original Music Composer
- *The Man Who Saved the World* (1982), Music
- *Where the Wild Things Are* (1975), Original Music Composer, Conductor
- *Hanuman and the Five Kamen Riders* (1975), Music
- *Horowitz in Dublin* (1973), Original Music Composer
- *Oh! Calcutta!* (1972), Original Music Composer
- *Silent Running* (1972), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/silent-running.md)
- *Funnyman* (1967), Original Music Composer
- *Israel: The Story of the Jewish People* (1965), Music

## Gallery

- ![Peter Schickele](https://film.one/media/person/1273414/gallery-fe874e0d5c77.jpg) Peter Schickele — Peter Hummers, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Peter_Schickele.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Music Professor Peter Schickele in a 1979 press photo.](https://film.one/media/person/1273414/gallery-c5ba8adaff5d.jpg) Music Professor Peter Schickele in a 1979 press photo. — Alpert LeVine Public Relations, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Peter_Schickele_1980.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![John Shahn, Peter Schickele, Dave Soifer, and Robin Christenson in image from Swarthmore College yearbook Halcyon 1957. Some have musical instruments.](https://film.one/media/person/1273414/gallery-6b6caad6c145.jpg) John Shahn, Peter Schickele, Dave Soifer, and Robin Christenson in image from Swarthmore College yearbook Halcyon 1957. Some have musical instruments. — Halcyon yearbook staff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Peter_Schickele_at_Swarthmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Peter Schickele in Milwaukee, February 24, 1981](https://film.one/media/person/1273414/gallery-e9422a7707b5.jpg) Peter Schickele in Milwaukee, February 24, 1981 — Unknown (original)

D. Benjamin Miller (restoration), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Peter_Schickele_in_Milwaukee%2C_February_24%2C_1981.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Peter Schickele seated barefoot atop a piano (1983)](https://film.one/media/person/1273414/gallery-66fc7c2c6b45.jpg) Peter Schickele seated barefoot atop a piano (1983) — Peter Schaaf, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Peter_Schickele_seated_barefoot_atop_a_piano.jpg/1280px-Peter_Schickele_seated_barefoot_atop_a_piano.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/peter-schickele