Johann Pachelbel: Encyclopedia II - Johann Pachelbel - Works

Johann Pachelbel - Works

Johann Pachelbel - Introduction

During his lifetime, Pachelbel was best known as an organ composer. He wrote more than two hundred organ pieces, both liturgical and secular, and used most of the genres that existed at the time. His other keyboard music includes harpsichord suites and sets of variations. Pachelbel also composed numerous vocal works: arias, Magnificat settings, motets, sacred concertos, and chamber music, most of which is in partita form.

Pachelbel's music shows influence of Italian and Southern German composers of the time. Italian influence can be traced to his earliest datable works (two arias composed in 1679, So ist denn dies der Tag and So ist denn nur die Treu). He almost certainly studied Johann Caspar von Kerll's music: The similarities are compelling even for inexperienced listeners (for example, Kerll's Toccata Cromatica con Durezze e Ligature and Pachelbel's fantasias or chaconnes in D minor). Other influences probably included Johann Jakob Froberger and various French composers.

As a composer, Pachelbel apparently was most interested in variation forms and associated techniques. His first published work was a set of chorale variations. He dedicated to Dietrich Buxtehude the work he was most proud of, a collection of keyboard variations. Variation techniques are in many of his organ works. The famous Canon in D is a set of variations.

Johann Pachelbel - Organ works

Much of Pachelbel's liturgical organ music, particularly the chorale preludes, is relatively simple and written for manuals only, no pedal is required. This is partly due to Lutheran religious practice where congregants sang the chorales. Household instruments like virginals or clavichords accompanied the singing, so Pachelbel and many of his contemporaries made music playable using these instruments. The quality of the organs Pachelbel used also played a role. None of the organs at his disposal survived, but we know that the Erfurt's Predigekirche organ had 27 stops, two manuals and pedals (compare to the famous Silbermann organs that sometimes had more than 50 stops on three manuals and pedals), and Pachelbel's organ in the Church of Saint Sebald in Nuremberg had only 14 stops on two manuals and pedals.

Interestingly, some music (several chorales, all ricercars, some fantasias) are written in white mensural notation [1]. This notation system has hollow note heads and omits bar lines (measure delimiters). Pachelbel probably used the notation to make his work more familiar.

The main body of Pachelbel's organ oeuvre consists of liturgical pieces. These are:

• around 70 chorale preludes, including numerous pieces composed in Erfurt (see above). They tend to use three or four voices and feature the chorale melody in clear recognizable form. Pachelbel used common chorale models and invented some of his own: a combination of a small chorale fugue in which the subject is a part of the chorale melody. Also a three- or four-part cantus firmus setting in which the prelude is constructed from themes derived from the main melody; these themes (chorale phrases) are treated imitatively, one at a time, each preceded by an imitation in the accompanying voices and in the same order. So the prelude is a series of fugal expositions, each based on a chorale phrase. Examples include Auf meinen lieben Gott and Wenn mein Stuendlein vorhanden ist.
• In 1693 Pachelbel published a collection of eight chorale preludes called Acht Chorale zum Praeambulieren. The pieces demonstrate ancient techniques for chorale composition: chorales based on melodic ornamentation of the melody (Wir glauben all an einen Gott), chorales based on German polyphonic song (Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren, Psalm 103), and the two-part bicinium chorale (Jesus Christus, unser Heilund der von uns).
• 95 magnificat fugues. Usually, the Magnificat at Vespers was either accompanied by the organist playing alternate verses from the chant or preceded by a short organ prelude to establish pitch for the singers. Pachelbel chose the latter approach: his magnificat fugues are brief pieces, preludial in nature, and most are original themes rather than those from the chant. The fugues are organized according to the eight Church Modes: 23 in primi toni, 10 in secundi toni, 11 in tertii toni, etc. All these fugues were composed during Pachelbel's years in Nuremberg.

Not surprisingly, Pachelbel's affinity for variation form manifests itself primarily in his organ works, particularily in six organ chaconnes. These pieces are more complicated and better structured than earlier works in the genre (for instance Kerll's Chaconne in C major or Passacaglia in D minor), though not as harmonically complex nor as virtuosic as, for example, Buxtehude's chaconnes. They have a wide variety of moods and are among Pachelbel's most well-known organ pieces: the Chaconne in F minor is often cited as his best organ work. Pachelbel also composed several sets of chorale variations: four were published in Erfurt in 1683 under the title Musikalische Sterbensgedanken ("Musical Thoughts on Death"). The title might refer to Pachelbel's first wife's death in the same year. There were also a couple of arias and an arietta (a short aria) with variations. Pachelbel's chorale variations may or may not have influenced Johann Sebastian Bach's early organ partitas.

Pachelbel's other organ works include:

• 20 to 30 fugues. Many of these works make use of musical imitation and variation techniques. The fugues are highly variable in form: some unexpectedly short pieces with subjects that use fast repeated notes (see "C major fugue" below), others are full-fledged fugues. In two works (Prelude and Fugue in E minor and Toccata and Fugue in B flat major) the fugue is preceded by a preludial movement—a technique extensively used by Bach.
• Three ricercars. All three are polythematic and marked alla breve. The C minor is the most popular and frequently performed and recorded. Ricercare in F-sharp minor is far more interesting musically; it is in a key rarely used in Baroque music and requires a tuning system with D-sharp, A-sharp, E-sharp, and B-sharp, which is not the case with meantone temperament of the Baroque era. This means that Pachelbel may have used his own tuning system, of which little is known.
• 6 fantasias, around 20 toccatas, and several preludes. Pachelbel's fantasias and toccatas tribute older styles and musicians, reminiscent of works by Kerll, Froberger and Frescobaldi. Three fantasias use the old non-thematic style and have sections unconnected in any way. The toccatas usually consist of fast passages for both hands over sustained pedal chords. All are very accessible works, particularily the E minor and C minor toccatas which receive more attention than the rest.

Johann Pachelbel - Other keyboard works

In 1699 Pachbel published a music collection entitled Hexachordum Apollinis (a reference to Apollo's lyre), which is widely regarded as Pachelbel's masterpiece. It contains six arias with variations in six keys, playable on harpsichord or organ. The collection is dedicated to friend Ferdinand Tobias Richter and Pachelbel's famous contemporary Dietrich Buxtehude. The arias are named Aria prima through Aria sexta ("first" through "sixth"). The final piece is subtitled Aria Sebaldina, a reference to the Church of Saint Sebald where Pachelbel worked at the time and where he received his first music lessons. Aria secunda has five variations, Aria Sebaldina has eight; the others have six variations.

Pachelbel's only known pieces written specifically for harpsichord are 21 dance suites composed around 1683. These are French influenced and indicate Pachelbel may have studied Froberger's keyboard suites. Harmonically, the suites are quite varied: 17 keys are in these pieces, including F-sharp minor, which was seldom used in baroque music. (It was difficult to use because of meantone temperament. Pachelbel's other pieces in the same key include an organ ricercare and a chamber suite).

All suites follow the typical German model (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue), but are sometimes updated with an extra movement between the courante and the sarabande, usually a gavotte or a ballet. Generally, these additional movements are uncomplicated and less developed than main movements, but offer catchy and memorable melodies. All movements are in binary form, except for two arias.

Johann Pachelbel - Chamber works

Pachelbel's chamber music is much less virtuosic than Biber's Mystery Sonatas or Buxtehude's Opus 1 and Opus 2 chamber sonatas. The famous Canon in D belongs to this genre, as it was originally scored for 3 violins and a basso continuo, and paired with a gigue in the same key. The canon itself consists of an ostinato bass line, over which the violins play a three-voice canon, based on a simple theme, though 28 variations of the melody are in the piece. The gigue which originally accompanied the canon is a simplistic piece that uses strict fugal writing.

Musikalische Ergötzung ("Musical Delight") is a set of six chamber suites for two scordatura violins and basso continuo published sometime after 1695. At the time, scordatura tuning was used to produce special effects and execute tricky passages. However, Pachelbel's collection was intended for amateur violinists, and scordatura tuning is used here as basic introduction to the technique. Scrodatura only involves the tonic, dominant and sometimes the subdominant notes.

Pachelbel's other chamber music includes an aria and variations (Aria con variazioni in A major) and three standalone suites scored for a string quartet or a typical French five-part string ensemble with 2 violins, 2 violas and a violone (the latter reinforces the basso continuo). Of these, the five-part suite in G major (Partie a 5 in G major) is a variation suite, where each movement begins with a theme from the opening sonatina; like its four-part cousin (Partie a 4 in G major) and the third standalone suite (Partie a 4 in F-sharp minor) it updates the German suite model by using the latest French dances such as the gavotte or the ballet. All three Partie end with a Finale movement.

Johann Pachelbel - Vocal music

• 19 arias, two of which are earliest datable works. Pachelbel's arias are usually scored for solo voice accompanied by several instruments; most were written for weddings, birthdays, funerals, etc.
• 11 motets, ten scored for two four-part choruses. Most of this music is harmonically simple and make little use of complex polyphony (indeed, the polyphonic passages frequently feature reduction of parts). The texts are taken from the psalms, except in Nun danket alle Gott which uses a short passage from the Ecclesiastes. The motets are structured according to the text they use.

• 11 sacred concertos, many in concertato style. These works significantly feature unusually large groups of instruments: Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt (in C) uses four trumpets, timpani, 2 violins, 3 violas, violone and basso continuo, while Lobet den Herrn in seinem Heiligtum is scored for a five-part chorus, two flutes, bassoon, five trumpets, trombone, drums, cymbals, harp, two violins, basso continuo and organ. Stylistically, Pachelbel's sacred concertos present a diversity of styles:
  • Gott ist unser Zuversicht, Gott sei uns gnaedig and Lobet den Herrn in seinem Heiligtum are settings of psalm texts.
  • Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan and Christ lug in Todesbanden are chorale concertos, the former being a series of six variations on the chorale melody.
  • Kommt her zu mir is a work that closely resembles a church cantata (which did not exist as a genre at the time).
• 2 masses. One is probably an early work in the concertato style, and the other (Missa brevis) is a small mass in three movements, simple, unadorned and reminiscent of his motets.
• 24 pieces for use with Vespers: 11 settings of ingressus (Vesper openings preceding the hymn) and 13 magnificats. All the ingressus break the text and the music into 6 parts and are written in concertato style. Two Magnificat settings are in motet style, the rest are in concertato style, influenced by Italian Catholic music and amazingly diverse: from a more known D major piece written for a 4-part choir, 4 violas and basso continuo, to the Magnificat in C major scored for a five-part chorus, 4 trumpets, timpani, 2 violins, a single viola and two violas da gamba, bassoon, basso continuo and organ. Most of this has Italian influence, and some parts of the magnificats make use of older techniques like the plainchant cantus firmus.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Works", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki