pachelbel's canon

Biographical Detail

Johann Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg, Germany in August in 1653 and became one of the great organist-composers of the baroque era. He died in Nuremberg on March 6th, 1706.

Pachelbel is principally remembered as a composer of church and organ music, especially his chorale preludes and variations. Pachelbel is also credited with influencing the early keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. It is believed that the cannon in D major was written (along with gigue in the same key) in or around 1680

Background and Context

This work was not published until the 1920s with the first recordings emerging some twenty years later. Canon in D major has undergone hundreds of transformations in the intervening years and has been recorded my artists as diverse as the pet shop boys and the Farm. It was the latter's re-working of Pachelbel's original for their 2004 hit release which became more widely recognised in its use as the theme tune of the English Euro 2004 team (All together now). Frequently used as a processional at weddings, this work has appeared in several films and also in television adverts such as, British Gas, Pure New Wool and Ambrosia .

Analysis

The Canon in D major was originally written for three violins and a basso continuo. The original version of the Canon is rarely played and the basso continuo is frequently undertaken by cello, harpsichord or organ. The term Canon to describe this word, is true that the parts follow in strict canonic order throughout the work. The harmonic progressions herd above the ground bass (basso continuo) also never alter. The title Canon therefore, refers to the way the three violin parts work, playing the same music 2 bars apart. After the initial statement of the ground bass, first violin enters with a simple ascending and descending chord pattern. two bars later the second violin enters with the descending crochet pattern, Violin one has begun the next variation, this time in quavers. Further progression occurs when a new scalic semiquaver variation begins. A more disjointed variation of the crochet pattern exploiting octave leaps follows, followed in turn by the fastest variation featuring demisemiquaver patterns. This Variant features repeated half-bar sequences.