Johann Pachelbel

German composer

• Born: September 1, 1653 (baptized)
• Birthplace: Nuremberg (now in Germany)
• Died: March 3, 1706
• Place of death: Nuremberg (now in Germany)

During his life’s work as a church musician, Pachelbel developed the Chorale Prelude, an important genre of sacred music used in Lutheran liturgy. He also contributed to the compositional use of the “theme and variations” form. Pachelbel was a teacher and friend of members of the Bach family, and he influenced the work of J. S. Bach.

Early Life

As a child, Johann Pachelbel (joh-hahn pahk-EHL-behl) showed talent in music as well as other subjects. Along with his general education in Nuremberg, he was tutored in theory by Heinrich Schwemmer, and in both performance and composition by G. C. Wecker. In 1669, he began studies at the university at Altdorf, and he served as an organist in the town, but he had to curtail his studies for financial reasons. In the following year he was granted a special scholarship to the Gymnasium Poeticum at Regensburg. Continuing a pattern of parallel studies in music and other subjects, he was allowed to undertake advanced study in music with Kaspar Prentz. Prentz was familiar with the international dimensions of musical practice, which at the time was heavily influenced by the Italian masters.

In 1673, Pachelbel left Regensburg for the cosmopolitan environment of Vienna, where he served as the deputy organist at Saint Stephen’s cathedral. In this environment, the young musician, who had been immersed in the Protestant liturgical traditions of his hometown and schools, was able to gain valuable knowledge of the Catholic Church composers, as well as the instrumental music of southern Europe.

Life’s Work

After four years, Pachelbel left Vienna for a position as the court organist at Eisenach, under the kapellmeister, or choir/orchestra director, Daniel Eberlin. This job was short lived, however, because Prince Bernhard, the duke of Saxe-Jena, died. Eberlin wrote Pachelbel a letter of reference so that he could find employment elsewhere. His next position, at the Predigerkirche, a Lutheran church in the town of Erfurt, lasted for twelve years and provided both the opportunity and motivation for Pachelbel to expand and refine his skills as a composer and performer.

Erfurt was an ideal environment for Pachelbel at this time. Its university, where Protestant reformer Martin Luther had studied in the sixteenth century, was internationally known at the time and contributed to the intellectual life of the area. There were several large churches, both Catholic and Protestant, with active musical traditions. The congregation of the Predigerkirche had very high expectations of Pachelbel, and his written job description was quite demanding. Along with the usual duties of accompanying the liturgy, he was required to compose and perform chorale preludes based on the themes of the hymns to be sung that week, had to be reexamined every year, and had to prepare an annual solo recital. Pachelbel was talented and industrious enough, however, to thrive under these terms. In 1679, during his first year at the Predigerkirche, Pachelbel was selected to compose music for the Erbhuldigung (a ceremony of homage) to honor Karl Heinrich von Metternich, taking office as the new prince elector of Mainz.

Pachelbel’s musical reputation grew, but he also was struck by tragedy. His wife, to whom he was married just two years earlier, and their infant son perished in an outbreak of plague in 1683. One year later, Pachelbel remarried, and the couple eventually had seven children. Another important relationship developed, one that was musical as well as personal. Pachelbel became a friend of Ambrosius Bach, a musician in Erfurt. Bach was part of a large musical family also associated with the town of Eisenach, where Pachelbel had previously been employed. Pachelbel was godfather to Ambrosius Bach’s daughter Johanna Juditha and began teaching music to Ambrosius’s son, Johann Christoph Bach. After Pachelbel’s friend died in 1695, Johann Christoph in turn became the teacher and guardian of his younger brother Johann Sebastian Bach, extending Pachelbel’s influence to subsequent generations of the Bach family.

Throughout his time in Erfurt, Pachelbel continued to compose and perform organ chorales as stipulated in his contract. In these preludes, Pachelbel would take each phrase of a hymn tune as a given theme to be developed by juxtaposing these phrases with contrasting but harmonious countermelodies and repeating them at different pitch levels for elaborate architectural effects. He also composed nonliturgical music for organ and other instruments, often by using the “theme and variations” compositional technique, in which a melody (often in the bass) and its associated chord sequence are repeated, with their metrical proportions preserved in each repetition and while the surface structure changes with each variation. Pachelbel was a master of this compositional practice, which he used in his most famous work, Canon in D, part of a work for strings with continuo, and most likely written during his early years in Erfurt.

Eventually, he was invited to become a musician for the Württemberg court at Stuttgart. This community, which he joined in 1690, gave Pachelbel a wider, more elite audience, and it could have resulted in more secular compositions. The armies of French king Louis XIV, however, were conducting raids in the Rhineland, so Pachelbel left the area in 1692. He declined a position at Oxford University and instead returned east to the Thuringia region, where he worked as an organist in the town of Goth for the next three years.

In 1695, Pachelbel returned with honor to his home town of Nuremberg and accepted an appointment at St. Sebaldus, the most prominent post in Nuremberg at that time. He held this position until he died in 1706. During this period, Pachelbel composed a great deal of religious vocal music, somewhat more dramatic in style than his instrumental music. He also wrote a set of ninety-five Magnificat fugues for Vespers at St. Sebaldus, reflecting an old tradition in which organists would precede the singing of the Magnificat by improvising fugues set in a series of contrasting modes. Some of his organ compositions were written as teaching pieces, which were later copied and modified by his students.

Three of Pachelbel’s sons became musicians as well. Wilhelm Hieronymus, the oldest surviving son, took up his father’s work at St. Sebaldus after the elder Pachelbel passed away. Charles Theodore moved to the British colonies in North America, where he was an organist, and Johann Michael, well known as an instrument builder in Nuremberg, traveled to Jamaica to perform.

Significance

Pachelbel had built upon traditions established by generations of composers who had used plainsong melodies as cornerstones for the construction of great polyphonic masses and other works for the Catholic liturgy. In his own work, he used simple Lutheran hymn melodies as the basis for the creation of expanded, sophisticated works known as chorale preludes, a tradition that was continued by J. S. Bach and other composers.

He also contributed to the development of other genres, such as the fantasia, toccata, and fugue, and he made significant contributions to the repertoire for organ, sacred vocal music, and chamber ensemble. His most popular work, Canon in D, is often played at weddings and other ceremonies into the twenty-first century. His teaching influenced many musicians during his time and in subsequent generations.

Bibliography

Herl, Joseph. Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Extensive study that provides comparative and historical context for sacred music by Pachelbel and other organists who performed and composed for the Lutheran liturgy.

Perreault, Jean M., and Donna K. Fitch, eds. The Thematic Catalogue of the Musical Works of Johann Pachelbel. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2004. Comprehensive musical identification of Pachelbel’s compositions, including an essay on the sources and examinations of authenticity, with extensive notes and comments.

Silbiger, Alexander, ed. Keyboard Music Before 1700. Routledge Studies in Musical Genres. New York: Routledge, 2003. A study of composers and their music in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Bibliographies.

Thompson, Wendy. Classical Composers: A Guide to the Lives and Works of the Great Composers from the Medieval, Baroque, and Classical Eras. London: Southwater, 2002. Lavishly illustrated with brief but clearly written biographies, including one of Pachelbel, and overviews of major style periods. Very good introduction for general readers. Chronologically arranged, with many color prints of period paintings, a glossary, and an index.

Welter, Kathryn J. Johann Pachelbel, Organist, Teacher, Composer: A Critical Reexamination of His Life, Works, and Historical Significance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Harvard University, 1998. A comprehensive study balancing musical analysis and cultural and historical contexts. Illustrations, list of musical works, music examples, bibliography, tables.

Wolff, Christoph. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. New York: Norton, 2001. A thorough biography that includes treatment of Pachelbel’s influence on Bach’s musical style. Illustrations, appendices, music examples, indexes, tables.