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For other composers named Pachelbel, see Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel and Charles Theodore Pachelbel .
Johann Pachelbel ( September 1 , 1653 – March 3 , 1706 ) was a German Baroque Composer , Organist and teacher who brought the South German Organ Tradition to its 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 work enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many pupils and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany. However, he did not have much influence on the most important composers of the late Baroque such as Johann Sebastian Bach . Today Pachelbel is best known for his '' Canon In D ''; it is the only Canon he wrote, and is somewhat unrepresentative of the rest of his oeuvre. Despite this, it is linked strongly enough with him that comedian Rob Paravonian humorously noted that Johann Pachelbel was the original One-hit Wonder . In addition to the canon, his most well-known works include the '' Chaconne in F minor'', the '' Toccata in E minor'' for organ, and the ''Hexachordum Apollinis'', a set of Keyboard Variations . "Pachelbel, Johann" ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music'', Ed. Michael Kennedy, (Oxford University Press, 1996) '' Oxford Reference Online '', (accessed 21 March 2007) [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t76.] (subscription access) Pachelbel's music was influenced by southern German composers such as Johann Jakob Froberger and Johann Kaspar Kerll , Italians such as Girolamo Frescobaldi and Alessandro Poglietti , French composers, and the composers of the Nuremberg tradition. Pachelbel 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. LIFE 1653–1673: Early youth and education (Nuremberg, Altdorf, Regensburg) Johann Pachelbel was born in 1653 in on September 1 , he may have been born in August. During his early youth, Pachelbel received musical training from Georg Caspar Wecker , organist of the Church of Saint Sebald (''Sebalduskirche''), and Heinrich Schwemmer, a musician and music teacher who later became the Cantor of the same church. Both Wecker and Schwemmer were trained by Johann Erasmus Kindermann , one of the founders of the Nuremberg musical tradition, who had been at one time a pupil of Johann Staden . Johann Mattheson , whose ''Grundlage einer Ehrenpforte'' ( Hamburg , 1740) is one of the most important sources of information about Pachelbel's life, mentions that the young Pachelbel demonstrated exceptional musical and academic abilities. He received his primary education in local Nuremberg schools and became a student at the University Of Altdorf at the age of 15. During his studies at Altdorf , Pachelbel also served as organist for one of the churches there. Financial difficulties forced him to leave the university after less than a year. In order to complete his studies, Pachelbel became a scholarship student, in 1670, at the ''Gymnasium poeticum'' at Regensburg . The school authorities at Regensburg, impressed by Pachelbel's academic qualifications and his advanced standing in music, permitted him to study music outside the gymnasium. His teacher was Kaspar Prentz, once a student of Johann Kaspar Kerll . The latter was greatly influenced by Italian composers such as Giacomo Carissimi , so it was likely through Prentz that Pachelbel started developing an interest in Italian music of the early and middle Baroque era. 1673–1690: Career (Vienna, Eisenach, Erfurt)
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