Pachelbel's canon (formally the Canon in D-major; German language: Kanon und Gigue in D-Dur für drei Violinen und Basso Continuo) is the most famous piece of music by Johann Pachelbel. It was written in or around 1680 during the Baroque period as a piece of chamber music for three violins and basso continuo, but has since been arranged for a wide variety of ensembles. It was originally followed by a gigue in the same key, though this is rarely played today.

It is commonly played at weddings.

Contents

1 The music 2 Harmony 3 Pachelbel's canon in popular culture 4 Media 5 External links

The music

The canon, which is in 4/4 time, uses a number of techniques: as well as an orthodox canon, the canon is given in inversion (that is, the following voice is upside-down compared to the leading voice), in retrograde (the follower is back-to-front), augmentation (with longer note values) and diminution (with shorter note values). It is an example of canon ad semibrevem (entry at the whole note).

Harmony

The harmonic basis of the canon is a ground bass: the same four-bar bass line and harmonic sequence are repeated over and over, about 30 times in total. The chords of this sequence are: D major (tonic), A major (dominant), B minor (tonic parallel), F# minor (dominant parallel) G major (subdominant) D major (tonic), E minor (subdominant parallel) A major (dominant).

The sequence, or rather, close imitations of it, appears elsewhere in the classical canon. Mozart employed it for a striking passage in The Magic Flute (1791), at the moment where the Three Youths first appear. Mozart may have learned the sequence from Haydn, who had used it in the minuet of his string quartet Opus 50 no. 2 (1785). Neither Haydn's or Mozart's passage is an exact harmonic match to Pachelbel's, both deviating in the last two bars.

For a parallel in popular music, see below.

Pachelbel's canon in popular culture

The Pachelbel canon may represent the most extraordinary instance of the crossover phenomenon in all of music. During a short period in the early 1970s it went from being a quite obscure work of early music to a universally familiar cultural item. It was played in countless versions in its original notes and instrumentation, as well as in arrangements for other instruments and in adaptations into other musical genres. The process shows no sign of abating.

The popularization is thought to have originated with the release of a 1970 recording of the work (Erato 98475) performed by the Paillard Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Jean-François Paillard.

The following are representative appearances of the canon in popular culture.

The canon was first adapted musically in a pop song by the Spanish vocal group Pop Tops on their 1968 hit "O Lord, Why Lord?", which made modest chart showings in both the USA (peaking at #79 on the Hot 100) and the Netherlands.

Later adaptations of the Canon include:

• The second half of Brian Eno's pioneering 1975 ambient music recording Discreet Music consists of a series of versions of Pachelbel's canon to which various algorithmic transformations have been applied, rendering it almost unrecognisable.

• In 1991, RCA released a compilation CD called Pachelbel's Greatest Hit. It contained eight different versions of the piece, including performances by James Galway, Isao Tomita, and the Canadian Brass. Also released that year was the P. D. Q. Bach album WTWP Classical Talkity-Talk Radio, a spoof of classical radio and the canon's ubiquity there (WTWP stands for "wall-to-wall Pachelbel").

• The Farm's 1991 single "All Together Now"

• The 1996 hit "Hook" by Blues Traveler

• The 1997 single "C U When You Get There" by Coolio

• The 1999 hit by Vitamin C, "Graduation (Friends Forever)".

• "Canon" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra adds Christmas lyrics to the familiar melody

• The The Polyphonic Spree song "Section 9 (Light & Day/Reach for the Sun)" has an almost identical chord structure to canon, to such a point as it's possible to sing the vocal melody and lyrics of it over the song.

• Christine Lavin parodied it in her live album Sometimes Mother Really Does Know Best by wondering what if Pachelbel wrote songs for Taco Bell, renaming the composition "The Tacobel Canon" with lyrics about Taco Bell's food.

• Those who grew up in southern California during the 1980s will recognize Pachelbel's canon as the background music to virtually every alcoholism and drug treatment center commercial of the period.

• During a stand-up comedy routine on the Dr. Demento basement tapes, comedian Rob Paravonian recognizes the popular music takeover of Pachelbel's canon.

"The cello part in Pachelbel's canon is the most boring part ever written. It's 8 quarter notes repeated... 54 times - I counted, because I had nothing else to do... [Paravonian's count is exaggerated; see above.] I hated this piece. The violins got lovely melodies. The second violins got lovely melodies. The violas got lovely melodies, which should never happen. The celloists, we got eight notes. And if you ever wonder why, I think I've figured it out. I think Pachelbel must have dated a celloist, and she dissed him really bad. And so he just gave the celloists the worst parts he could ever think of. And you know, I wouldn't be bitter about it, except the man is following me. He's been dead for like 300 years but he's popping up everywhere."

Paravonian continues on to note several songs in which he recognizes Pachelbel's influence, although this influence is likely coincidental, as many songs share the tonic-dominant-tonic parallel-dominant parallel pattern. He also characterizes Johann Pachelbel as the original one-hit wonder.

• Pachelbel's canon is prominently featured in the blockbuster South Korean romantic comedy My Sassy Girl and The Classic.

Media

• Pachelbel's Canon, solo for piano. Shortened version performed by Lee Galloway. (ogg format). (See http://www.LeeGalloway.com for more Lee Galloway music)

External links

• Pachelbel's Greatest Hits on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000003F39/102-1822521-0496914?v=glance)
• Information on the Paillard recording (http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/cds/era98475.htm)
• A list of over 240 recordings (http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~hideo-t/pachelbel/canon/index-e.html)