Properly called Canon and Gigue in D Major, was written by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel, who lived from 1653 to 1706.
Pachelbel was an organist, teacher and composer. In his own lifetime he was better known for church music, organ works and teaching than for the Canon, which only became world-famous much later.
The piece was probably written sometime around the 1680s or 1690s. It was composed for three violins and basso continuo, usually played by cello with harpsichord or organ.
The music is built around a repeating bass line. Above it, the violins enter one after another, copying and answering each other.
That is what makes it a canon: one musical voice follows another, like echoes moving through a beautiful old church.
For many years, the Canon was not especially famous. It was largely forgotten until the 20th century, when musicians and record companies began
Rediscovering Baroque music.
Its modern popularity grew strongly in the 1960s and 1970s. From there, it became a favourite at weddings, in films, on television, in adverts and in popular culture.
Today, Pachelbel’s Canon is one of the most recognised pieces of classical music in the world. It began as a graceful Baroque chamber piece, but became a universal sound of romance, ceremony, memory and calm.
Johann Pachelbel may not have known that this gentle piece would outlive him by centuries, but his Canon has become one of music’s great survivors: simple, elegant and almost impossible to forget.
