Johann Pachelbel

A Research Paper By, Scott Nelson

I have chosen to write about a man by the name of Johann Pachelbel. I have grown fond of this man due to the fact that I love his piece, Canon in D major. I first heard this song when I was about 12 years old and it came on during Christmas time. I loved the way it all flowed together and built up at the same time. Simply stunning! Since hearing it 10 years ago, I have come across many different versions of the said piece (all of which are fantastic in their own write of course), but I keep finding myself coming back to the original piec e the way it was meant to be. Johann Pachelbel was baptized September 1st 1653 into the family of Johann (Hans) Pachelbel (born 1613 in Wunsiedel, Germany), a wine dealer, and his second wife Anna (Anne) Maria Mair. Now we dont know the exact date that Johann was born, but because we know when he was baptized we can guess that we was born sometime in August. When Johann was young and in his youth, he started to receive musical training from a man by the name of Heinrich Schwemmer. He has also been considered to have studied with a couple other people, but that is unlikely for some reason. Johann excelled from an early age and was found to be very exceptional in his musical and academic abilities. He received his general education at St. Lorenz High School, and then in 1669 he enrolled at a University in Altdorf. Now he really didnt come from a

wealthy family by any means. He had a job as an organist at the Lorenzkirche, but that provided very minimal wages. Because of this, he could not come up with the funds needed to pay for the cost of tuition at the university and ended up leaving after about a year. In 1673, after a very short period of studying alone following his departure from the university, Pachelbel traveled to Vienna and got a job being the assistant organist at St. Stephen's Cathedral. About four years later he got a job as a court organist in Eisenach. That is where Bach would be born a number of years later in 1685. Johann would soon become a good friend of the Bach family and teach both Johann Christoph and Johann Sebastian. Pachelbel soon got tired and left after just a year at Eisenach. He then became an organist at the Predigerkirche in Erfurt, in 1678.

In 1681 this guy married the wonderful Barbara Gabler and by 1683 he was a father. In September of that very year a major tragedy happened as the plague swept through Erfurt, killing his wife and newborn son in October. Around this very time, he came up with four sets of chorale variations with the title of Musical Thoughts. In August of 1684 he had his second marriage. This would be to a lovely lady named Judith Drommer. This was a successful marriage that resulted in seven children. They had five sons and two daughters. Two of the sons also became organ composers, following in their fathers footsteps. Those two, later moved to the American colonies in 1734. One of the other sons became an instrument maker and traveled around doing that for a living. One of the daughters became a renowned painter and engraver in her time .

Johann wrote a vast number of pieces. I do not have enough time or space to cover them all but I would like to make a point about perhaps his most famous one, Canon in D. I really really enjoy this piece. Just a couple months ago I got married and this is the song that was played as my beautiful wife walked down the aisle with her father. This song is usually associated with wedding and has become very popular because of the popular movie, Ordinary People. I personally have not seen this film but look forward to doing so. Canon in D is a very calming piece and I recommend listening to it if you have trouble sleeping. In conclusion, Johan Pachelbel was a pretty awesome person. He had some really tough times in his life, (his first wife and newborn son being taken by the plague) which ended up making him a better person and influencing him to compose some of his best music. It takes a lot to raise 7 kids and to make ends meet, especially in the ages that he was alive.

Bibliography
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/johann-pachelbel-mn0000635037/biography http://www.naxos.com/person/Johann_Pachelbel/25619.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Pachelbel http://www.last.fm/music/Johann+Pachelbel http://classicalcomposersmonthly.com/johann-pachebel/