Pachelbel Free Sheet Music, Program Notes, recordings and biography

The Man Behind the Canon

It is perhaps the greatest irony in classical music history. If you have been to a wedding, watched a movie, or seen a sentimental television commercial in the last fifty years, you know the music of Johann Pachelbel. His Canon in D has become one of the most ubiquitous pieces of music on the planet, a gentle, looping progression of perfect harmony. Yet, the man who wrote it—a prolific, respected, and profoundly influential organist and composer of the high Baroque—likely considered it a minor, occasional piece of chamber music. He built his celebrated career on a foundation of complex fugues, majestic toccatas, and hundreds of intricate sacred works for the Lutheran church. How did this one simple canon come to define the legacy of a German master? The story reveals a man who was both a product of his time and an artist whose simple elegance would, by a fluke of history, resonate centuries later.

The Nuremberg Native

Johann Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg in 1653 and demonstrated exceptional musical and academic talent from a young age. His first music education came from local teachers, including Heinrich Schwemmer, the cantor of the city's most prominent church, St. Sebaldus, and Georg Caspar Wecker, a notable organist and composer. Pachelbel's intellect was so sharp that he was admitted to the University of Altdorf at just 15 years old, where he also served as the organist of a local church.

Financial difficulties forced him to leave the university after less than a year, but his promise was undeniable. He soon enrolled in the Gymnasium Poeticum in Regensburg on a scholarship, where the school authorities were so impressed by his musical abilities that they allowed him to study music outside the school with a protégé of the famous composer Johann Jakob Froberger. This early exposure to a variety of German and Italian musical styles would prove foundational to his development.

A Journeyman's Career: Vienna, Eisenach, and the Bach Connection

Like most musicians of his time, Pachelbel built his career by moving from one prestigious appointment to the next. In 1673, he moved to Vienna, one of Europe's most important cultural capitals, becoming the assistant organist at the famous St. Stephen's Cathedral. Here, he was immersed in the rich musical traditions of the Catholic south, absorbing the influences of Italian and South German composers.

In 1677, he moved to Eisenach to become the court organist for the Duke of Saxe-Eisenach. This move would prove to be the most fateful of his life, as it brought him into the orbit of the most important musical family in Germany: the Bach family. He became a close friend of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the town musician and father of the yet-unborn Johann Sebastian Bach. Pachelbel was even asked to be the godfather to Johann Ambrosius's daughter, Johanna Juditha.

After a brief stint in Eisenach, Pachelbel took a position as the organist of the Predigerkirche in Erfurt in 1678, where he would remain for 12 years. His contract explicitly required him to be a model of artistry and to cultivate a reputation as a "perfect" organist. It was during his time in Erfurt that his connection to the Bach family deepened. Following the death of Johann Ambrosius Bach, Pachelbel took his mentor's son, the young Johann Christoph Bach, into his own home as a student. He taught Johann Christoph composition and keyboard playing, passing down his own musical lineage. This was a critical act of mentorship, as Johann Christoph would later become the first and only formal teacher of his younger brother, the great J.S. Bach. Pachelbel was, therefore, a direct and vital musical ancestor to the greatest composer of the Baroque era.

Return to Nuremberg and Masterworks

After leaving Erfurt, Pachelbel held prestigious posts in Stuttgart and Gotha before finally being offered the position he had likely coveted his entire life. In 1695, he returned to his beloved hometown as the organist of St. Sebaldus Church, the very same church where he had been baptized and received his first music lessons. This was the pinnacle of his career, a testament to his status as one of Germany's leading musicians.

It was during these mature years that he produced some of his most significant works, particularly for the keyboard. He published a collection of keyboard variations titled Hexachordum Apollinis (Apollo's Six Strings) and composed numerous chorale preludes, toccatas, and fugues that solidified his reputation as a master of counterpoint and form.

Famous Works: Beyond the Canon

While one piece dominates his popular reputation, Pachelbel's true contribution to music history lies in his extensive catalog of keyboard and sacred choral music.

Canon and Gigue in D Major: This work, written for three violins over a basso continuo (a repeating two-measure bass line), is a perfect example of a canon. Each violin enters in succession, playing the exact same melody. The piece was largely forgotten after Pachelbel’s death and was not rediscovered and published until 1919. Its explosion in popularity began in the late 1960s and has never waned. Its serene, predictable, and elegant structure makes it both musically satisfying and accessible to all listeners.

Organ and Choral Music: This was the heart of Pachelbel's life's work. He was a devout Lutheran and a practical church musician. His most significant contribution was to the development of the choral prelude, a short organ piece based on a hymn tune, designed to be played in church before the congregation sang the hymn. He developed a model where he would present the hymn tune in long, clear notes, often in the soprano line, while the other voices engaged in beautiful, flowing counter-melodies. His works in this genre directly influenced J.S. Bach.

Keyboard Music: Pachelbel's fugues, toccatas, fantasias, and suites for harpsichord and clavichord are models of clarity, grace, and technical command. His Hexachordum Apollinis is a major collection demonstrating his skill in the theme and variations form. Unlike the dense complexity that would characterize Bach's later work, Pachelbel's music is known for its lucid, approachable, and song-like quality.

Legacy: The Teacher of Bach's Teacher

Johann Pachelbel's legacy is twofold. In the popular imagination, he is the composer of the Canon in D, a piece that has brought comfort and beauty to millions. But in music history, his importance is far greater. He was a central figure of the middle Baroque period, a master of the South German organ school whose work synthesized various European styles into a clear and influential voice. He perfected the forms that would become central to the late Baroque.

His most profound legacy, however, was personal. Through his friendship with the Bach family and his direct teaching of Johann Christoph Bach, he passed on a tradition of craftsmanship and artistry that flowed directly to the young J.S. Bach. He was a crucial link in the chain that led to the summit of Baroque music.

Section 4: References and Further Reading

• Bukofzer, Manfred F. Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach. W.W. Norton & Company, 1947.

• Perreault, Jean M. The Thematic Catalogue of the Musical Works of Johann Pachelbel. Scarecrow Press, 2004.

• Schulze, Hans-Joachim. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. Edited by Christoph Wolff. W.W. Norton & Company, 1998.

• Taruskin, Richard, and Christopher H. Gibbs. The Oxford History of Western Music (College Edition). Oxford University Press, 2013.