Canon in D Major (Pachebel'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 (German: Kanon und Gigue
für 3 Violinen mit Generalbaß) (PWC 37, T. 337, PC
358), sometimes referred to as Canon and Gigue in D or
simply Canon in D. Neither the date nor the
circumstances of its composition are known (suggested
dates range from 1680 to 1706), and the oldest
surviving manuscript copy of the piece dates...(+)
Canon in D Major (Pachebel'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 (German: Kanon und Gigue
für 3 Violinen mit Generalbaß) (PWC 37, T. 337, PC
358), sometimes referred to as Canon and Gigue in D or
simply Canon in D. Neither the date nor the
circumstances of its composition are known (suggested
dates range from 1680 to 1706), and the oldest
surviving manuscript copy of the piece dates from the
19th century.
Pachelbel's Canon, like Pachelbel's other works,
although popular during his lifetime, soon went out of
style, and remained in obscurity for centuries
thereafter. A 1968 arrangement and recording of it by
the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra became
unexpectedly popular over the next decade, and in the
1970s the piece began to be recorded by many ensembles;
by the early 1980s its presence as background music was
deemed inescapable. From the 1970s to the early 2000s,
elements of the piece, especially its chord
progression, were used in a variety of pop music songs.
Since the 1980s, it has also been used frequently in
weddings and funeral ceremonies in the Western
world.
The canon was originally scored for three violins and
basso continuo and paired with a gigue. Both movements
are in the key of D major. Although a true canon at the
unison in three parts, it also has elements of a
chaconne.
In his lifetime, Johann Pachelbel was renowned
primarily for his organ and other keyboard music,
whereas today he is also recognized as an important
composer of church and chamber music. Little of his
chamber music survives, however. Only Musikalische
Ergötzung—a collection of partitas published during
Pachelbel's lifetime—is known, apart from a few
isolated pieces in manuscripts. The Canon and Gigue in
D major is one such piece. A single 19th-century
manuscript copy of them survives, Mus.MS 16481/8 in the
Berlin State Library. It contains two more chamber
suites. Another copy, previously in Hochschule der
Künste in Berlin, is now lost.
The circumstances of the piece's composition are wholly
unknown. Hans-Joachim Schulze, writing in 1985,
suggested that the piece may have been composed for
Johann Christoph Bach's wedding, on 23 October 1694,
which Pachelbel attended. Johann Ambrosius Bach,
Pachelbel, and other friends and family provided music
for the occasion. Johann Christoph Bach, the oldest
brother of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a pupil of
Pachelbel. Another scholar, Charles E Brewer,
investigated a variety of possible connections between
Pachelbel's and Heinrich Biber's published chamber
music. His research indicated that the Canon may have
been composed as a kind of "answer" to a chaconne with
canonic elements which Biber published as part of
Partia III of Harmonia artificioso-ariosa. That would
indicate that Pachelbel's piece can't be dated earlier
than 1696 – the year of publication of Biber's
collection. Other versions are occasionally put
forward, for example, suggesting the date of canon's
composition as early as 1680.
Pachelbel's Canon combines the techniques of canon and
ground bass. Canon is a polyphonic device in which
several voices play the same music, entering in
sequence. In Pachelbel's piece, there are three voices
engaged in canon, but there is also a fourth voice, the
basso continuo, which plays an independent part.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachelbel%27s_Canon).
Although originally written for 3 violins and basso
continuo, I created this arrangement transcribed from D
Major to C Major for 5-Octave Handbells and optional
Handchimes.
