Canon by Johann Pachelbel, transcribed by Sarah Markham.
The Canon by Pachelbel is an iconic melody. It was written in the late seventeenth century for three violins and basso continuo. This arrangement is for saxophone ensemble, imitating ideas arising in the 1960s of augmenting ensemble parts to create a more orchestral sound.
The baritone saxophone plays the ostinato bass line, a seemingly simple two bar motif which is repeated throughout. However, this part provides the crucial underpinning of harmony and needs to compliment the shape of the other parts in its use of dynamics and building towards the final climax.
The other three parts play in canon, two bars apart. It is vital that an agreed approach to use of ornamentation, dynamics, and articulation is used for the canon to sound authentic. In addition, by having more than one player on each part, issues of intonation and agreed note lengths play an important role.
About Pachelbel and his Canon
Johann Pachelbel (baptised 1 September 1653 – buried 9 March 1706) was a German composer, organist, and teacher, who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era.
Pachelbel’s music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many pupils and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany. Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis, a set of keyboard variations.
He was influenced by southern German composers, such as Johann Jakob Froberger and Johann Caspar Kerll, Italians such as Girolamo Frescobaldi and Alessandro Poglietti, French composers, and the composers of the Nuremberg tradition. He preferred a lucid, uncomplicated contrapuntal style that emphasized melodic and harmonic clarity. His music is less virtuosic and less adventurous harmonically than that of Dieterich Buxtehude, although, like Buxtehude, Pachelbel experimented with different ensembles and instrumental combinations in his chamber music and, most importantly, his vocal music, much of which features exceptionally rich instrumentation. Pachelbel explored many variation forms and associated techniques, which manifest themselves in various diverse pieces, from sacred concertos to harpsichord suites.
The Canon is an accompanied canon from his Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo, also known as Canon and Gigue in D or Canon in D. Neither the date nor the circumstances of its composition are known (suggested dates range from 1680 to 1706), and the oldest surviving manuscript copy of the piece dates from the 19th century.
Pachelbel’s Canon remained in obscurity for centuries. A 1968 arrangement and recording of it by the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra gained popularity over the next decade, and in the 1970s the piece began to be recorded by many ensembles. The canon was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue. Both movements are in the key of D major. Although a true canon at the unison in three parts, it also has elements of a chaconne.
Aims of the project
Using alto saxophones playing above the baritone ostinato bass line, the ensemble will begin to create an ensemble sound, developing a rigorous eye for detail, strong sense of pulse, and good intonation. A recording of the final performance will be available for participants.