Johann Pachelbel

Johann Pachelbel (päkh'?lb?l) (August 1653 – March 3, 1706) was a German baroque composer and organist, best remembered for his Canon in D.

Rise in popularity of the Canon in D

It is sometimes supposed that classical music is intrinsically timeless and is not subject to the caprices of fashion. Pachelbel's Canon may be said to both support and deny this supposition.

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As tracked by mentions in The New York Times, Pachelbel was all but unknown to United States audiences before the 1930s.

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During the 1930s, his organ music, particularly "From Heaven on High To Earth I Come," began to be programmed regularly by church organists during the Christmas season, and performances of other works are occasionally mentioned, such as "Seven Chorale Partitas" for organ, a motet, and a Magnificat.

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The Canon was first mentioned on March 15, 1871, and the context, "a Bach fugue and a Pachelbel canon" suggests that the work was not familiar. However, by May 20, 1977, it was already being referred to as "the famous Pachelbel canon."

Related Topics:
March 15 - 1871 - May 20 - 1977

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Thus, on the one hand we have a piece of music that, entirely divorced from its temporal context, managed to attain wide popularity amongst Western culture, thus apparently proving the "timelessness" of classical music. However, on the surface of it we may also be said to have a piece of music which went unnoticed in its own time and which, with the changes in vogue and popular culture in later years, underwent a change of fortunes; in effect, its time had come. The latter understanding would of course indicate that, like everything else, classical music (and the 'Canon' is certainly a classic in all senses of the word) is subject to changes in fashion.

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This table and chart give the number of times Pachelbel is mentioned in The New York Times, by decade:

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