American composer Peter Schickele, known best for creating the fictional 18th-century musical persona of P.D.Q Bach, died Tuesday, Jan. 16, in Bearsville, New York, at age 88, writes Margalit Fox for The New York Times.

Schickele received a bachelor’s degree in music from Swarthmore College in 1957. He also taught there briefly before joining the Juilliard School faculty in New York in 1961.

He wrote more than 100 symphonic, choral, solo instrumental, and chamber works, including the film score to the 1972 science fiction film, “Silent Running,” as well as musical numbers for Broadway.

But it was P.D.Q. Bach and his music, created by Schickele in the best tradition of Victor Borge, Anna Russell, and Spike Jones, that is most remembered.

He presented the works of P.D.Q. Bach for more than half a century through prizewinning recordings, live performances, and a book-length biography.

Schickele positioned himself as the man who “discovered” the works of this unknown composer while simultaneously attacking the pomposity of classical music.

“I certainly would like my other stuff to be better known,” he said in an interview with music journalist Bruce Duffe.  “I guess I would have to say I’m jealous.”

Learn more about the life of Peter Schickele and P.D.Q. Bach’s “compositions” in The New York Times.