Johann Pachelbel, a German organist, composer, and teacher, was a man of vast talent and prowess in the area of music. Born in 1653 in Nuremburg, Germany, he started musical training at a young age. His age at the start of his training isn’t exactly known, but it is known that his teacher was Heinrich Schwemmer. Also, some think that Georg Wecker helped with young Pachelbel’s studying. Around age 16, he was accepted at the University of Altdorf, though because of money issues, he had to transfer to the Gymnasium Poeticum, in the city of Regensburg. During this time he also was studying outside the Gymnasium with Kaspar Prentz, who exposed Johann to Italian music. He then moved to Italy to study in 1673.

Pachelbel was hired at the Pfarrkirche, as an organist, but in Vienna he landed a job at the Church of St. Stevens. He returned to Germany in 1677, however, and was an organist there for some time and had become pretty famous. In fact, he even got to tutor Johann Sebastian along with the other children of Johann Ambrosius.

Also along the way in his career, he as an organist in Stuttgart, Germany for a while, and also Gotha. He remained as his town’s organist and was requested to play in Oxford, England and also Stuttgart again. He denied both. He stayed in the town he was born in, Nuremburg, until he died in March 1706. The exact date isn’t known, but a lot of historians think that it was the 6th or 7th.

One of his most famous and well-known pieces is the Pachelbel Canon. He composed it around the year of 1680 (age 27). It’s a canon, which is another word for a round. It was originally three violin parts and one bass part, but other composers have arranged it for all instruments. Each violin has the same notes and rhythm, but each part comes in two measures after the other. This makes a graceful and calming round, or canon. The bass line is made of two measures repeated over and over again all through the piece. It’s played at a lot of weddings, and is a calm, peaceful, and moving piece that has been played for years and is sure to be played for lots of years in the future.