Johann Pachelbel: Canon For Two Violins And Piano: Violin Duet: Instrumental

While Pachelbel has been most admired as a composer of organ works and Lutheran church music his Canon in D has long been one of his most celebrated compositions. It combines two time-honored compositional devices. The first of these is of course the canon a procedure whereby a melody in one part is strictly imitated by one or more other parts; a round (such as for example Frère Jacques) is a type of canon. The second device involves a short bass line (refeered to as a ground bass) that is repeated constandly over which the composer writes continuous variations. In its original form the work consists of an initial statement of an eight note ground bass followed by27 variations in strict canonic style for three violins above that bass. In addition to these four essential parts an appropriate harmonic background would have been improvised on harpsichord lute or organ. In the present arrangement Pachelbel's note values have been doubled for greater ease of reading and the work's canonic structure has been somewhat modified in order to make it more readily playable by violinists and pianists at an intermediate level. Since dynamics bowing indications articulations and slurs were not customarily provided by composer of the Baroque era the arranger and the editor have added them here as well as a metronome indication and a few cadential trills. Obviously these editorial additions should be regarded only as suggestions.

Canon in D is the most famous piece of music by Johann Pachelbel, written in or around 1680 as a piece of chamber music for three violins and basso continuo. Willard A. Palmer's simplified arrangement is for the intermediate pianist. / Piano

This is the Edition Peters Urtext edition of Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue for 3 Violins with Basso Continuo.

für Klavier leicht spielbar bearbeitet-If there is a work in which the name of the composer Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) is going to live on it without doubt is his canon. This extremely elaborate and at the same time tonally beautiful and sensuous work has made the name of Pachelbel known far beyond the confines of organ and church music his principal sphere of work. Most recently during Christmas the original version for three violins and basso continuo or even various arrangements could be heard on the radio or at shopping centres. To make this work accessible even to piano players Jürgen Krekel now presents an easily playable arrangement for the piano.