A whimsical collection of original madrigals written by the maestro of classical mirth. Your ensemble will have as much fun singing them as the audience does listening.

Professor Peter Schickele is an American treasure who is been delighting audiences for almost half a century with his clever, humorous and very entertaining alter ego P.D.Q. Bach. Here are three of his finest songs for SSAA voices. Fun for singers and audiences alike!

Around the turn of the 17th century of small group of Italian noblemen and composers, seeking to re-create classic Greek tragedy as they understood it. invented the opera. A somewhat earlier, simpler, and less revolutionary form of musical storytelling was the madrigal opera or madrigal comedy developed by Vecchi and other composers. These works, which were not necessarily staged, consisted of a series of madrigals that told a comic story; unlike opera as we have come to know it, however, this was basically choral form, with vocal ensemble playing the part of a narrator as well as that of each individual character. Go For Broke is patterned on this model. It consists of six madrigals, that tell the story of a man who find out that good luck is not enough. Sometimes the chorus' words are those of a narrator (Prologue: 'Here's John Q. Public...'), and sometimes they are those of our hero himself, or his friend the bartender, or the host of people who descend upon him when good fortune strikes (the middle numbers: Taxes, Charity, and Company at the Bar). The Finale even has a moral. The piece may be done as a concert work or it may be staged in a variety of ways. Although some of the sections may, at the discretion of the performing group, employ solo voices, GO FOR BROKE is basically a story told by a chorus.