Canon in D

Well, we've already heard this FAR TOO MANY TIMES, but listen just one more time. After all, what could be a better choice for my 666th upload?!?

I used to hate this piece, but learning it has made me love it. I found it hard to play. The excellent transcription, attached below, is like playing a trio sonata. It's NOT easy - at least it wasn't for me!

I experimented with various organs and MANY registrations and tempi. I finally went with a "plenum registration" which is a BIG surprise to me, as I had wanted to play it quite softly...

Pachelbel's Canon is the name commonly given to a canon by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel in his Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo. It is his most famous composition. It was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue. Both movements are in the key of D major.

Like most other works by Pachelbel and other pre-1700 composers, the Canon remained forgotten for centuries and was rediscovered only in the 20th century. Several decades after it was first published in 1919 the piece became extremely popular. The piece's chordal progression has been appropriated in numerous commercial pop hits, particularly during the 1990s, such as in Pet Shop Boys cover of "Go West", Coolio's "C U When U Get There" and Green Day's "Basket Case". Although a true canon at the unison in three parts, it also has elements of a chaconne.

The circumstances of the piece's composition are wholly unknown. One writer hypothesized that the Canon may have been composed for Johann Christoph Bach's wedding, on 23 October 1694, which Pachelbel attended.

At least we get to hear just HOW WELL the beautiful choruses of the Rückpositiv and Oberwerk balance one another. I do NOT use the extended version, so, notes above the manual compass were played 8va lower.

So, enjoy it - or hate it! ;-)