Pachelbel's Cannon is the name of a canon originally written by Johann Pachelbel and included in the "Kanon und Gigue fur 3 Violinen mit Generalbass".
It is also known as Canon and Gigue in D or Canon in D. It was intented to be played initially with a number of three violins and a gigue, as well as a basso continuo. It is named Canon in D because it is played in the D Major Key.
Although the best music creation by Pachelbel, it was made famous by Johann Sebastian Bach, who played it during his concertos and made it known throughout the world. It was not initially respected as a great music compositions in the 1700s, as many other works from that time.
The Baroque revival started in the 19th century, but was most intense in the 20th century, when this Canon was also reinvented. It was initially published in the year 1919 and after a few tens of years, it became very popular.
The free Canon in D piano sheet music is very well known by piano artists all around the world. Therefore, it would be a good idea to learn it too.
The style of this song was adapted for many songs of the pop genre. Starting with the 90s period, many artists used the chords from Canon in D. Pet Shop Boys used it first when they covered the song "Go West".
Then, Coolio used it in his own song titled "C U When U Get There". Green Day also used the chords progression from Canon in D in their song called "Basket Case". It is a song that is used at weddings many times, or even played as a classical song, alongside other Baroque songs. This canon can be also interpreted as a chaconne.
Pachelbel was admired in his time as a great organist and for keyboard works. But he has also written music for chamber music and even church music, today he is recognized for much more. The "Musikalische Ergotzung" was a collection of music works called partitas is part of his chamber music, but most of it has disappeared with time.
It is said that the Canon was intended for the wedding of Johann Christoph Bach, on 23 October, year 1694. Christoph was the big brother for Johann Sebastian Bach and was a student of Pachelbel.
Canon in D was recorded initially in the year 1940, by Arthur Fiedler.
A chamber orchestra version, which became famous, was created in 1968, by an orchestra belonging to Jean-Francois Paillard. Another great pop success that inspired itself from Canon in D was "I Should Be So Lucky" by Kylie Minogue.
Download the free Canon in D piano sheets of Bach’s masterpiece as PDF files below. Enjoy and stay safe.
