Peter Schickele

Schickele studied composition at Juilliard, where he developed both a serious concert-music practice and, alongside it, the comedic classical alter-ego that would eventually make him more famous than his straight compositional work.

Better known for his comedic classical alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach, Schickele wrote Silent Running's earnest, folky score — including two songs performed by Joan Baez. He took a far more sincere and gentle approach for this film's ecological, melancholy tone than his satirical concert-hall persona might suggest.

The Joan Baez songs remain some of the most unusual musical choices in any major studio science fiction film of the era, a genuinely folk-inflected departure from typical genre scoring.