Several nights ago, while Alice was busy looking for some songs to be added to her Friendster site, she came across a nice classical piece which quickly got our fascination. The piece turned out to be Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major, and in the next few hours we had downloaded more than a few arrangements of it. The piece had since became Alice's default audio for her site. We had selected some beautiful arrangements and would like to share them with you. You may want to visit our family's site at http://lontokfamily.multiply.com for these pieces. (copyrights of the pieces are reserved by their respective owners.)
Johann Pachelbel's Fast Facts:
Johann Pachelbel was one of the great organist-composers of his day, a man who could count Bach's teacher among his pupils (He taught Johann Christopher Bach who gave his younger brother, Johann Sebastian Bach, lessons in music). His life was tinged with tragedy and hardship - his first wife died with her baby son in the plague of 1683, and he had to flee from the French invasion of Stuttgart in 1692 - but he settled in Nuremberg and his second marriage produced seven children, two of whom became musicians, one an instrument maker and one a painter. His church music is highly regarded and innovative in the way it links the pitches of the notes to meaning - steadfast faith denoted by repeated notes, for example. His lilting Canon in D is a throwaway little piece by comparison to his big sacred works, but its charming grace has made it a favorite filler of compilation CDs. The canon in D major was written in or around 1680. Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg in August 1653 and died there on March 6th, 1706.
Where you may have heard of Canon D:
- films such as Father of the Bride and Ordinary People
- some TV ads
- Coolio rap single in 1997, The Farm single All Together Now used in Euro 2004, Go West by the Pet Shop Boys
- in shopping malls
- in the funeral of Lady Diana Spencer
