Johann Pachelbel's Canon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Johann Pachelbel's Canon - Essay Example Pachelbel in his youth was taught music by Heinrich Schwemmer. He was quick to grasp the gist of music and his talent was eminent. He portrayed outstanding music abilities in his early days and this encouraged his early teachers to nature the talent in him. He went to primary school at the Auditorio Aegediano and in St. Lorenz Hauptschule in his birth town of Nuremberg. He was a quick learner and performed brilliantly in school. He later on went to the University of Altdorf where his family was unable to raise the school fees for his education midway in his course and he was compelled to quite school. On sporting his talent and academic ability, he was offered an opportunity for further education where he joined Gymnasium Poeticum which is in Regensburg where he studied on a scholarship. He did not disappoint as he performed exceptionally well and was among the top students. He was in fact offered an admission in the school to be a surplus in the number of students as the school had already filled its maximum capacity number. Pachelbel got married twice with the first marriage ending by a plague which killed his wife and only son at the time. It was a very tragic event which put him under a lot of stress and even threatened his career in the music industry. Barbara Gabler died in October 1683 only two years after their marriage and leaving him a devastated man. Pachelbel got married to Judith Drommer ten months after the death of his first family as a way to reinvent himself and fill the gap that was so deeply intrenched into his heart. In this second marriage this time he bore two girls and five boys. This was seen as a way to keep an insurance for himself just in case such an event as that of the plague took place again then he would have someone dear to him to live with and to gain emotional support from when he needed it. He fortunately lived a happy life and got to be celebrated widely for his music. He finally died on the 3rd of March 1706 while working a s a church organist and was laid to rest at the St. Rochus Cemetery in his birth place, Nuremberg, Germany. II. Historical Information Pachelbel lived during the historic era of the reign of the Habsburg empire and the Baroque era. It was an extensive empire at the time (17th Century) which had its capital at Vienna. The empire had most of its culture and its taste of music being influenced by predominantly by the Italian culture and this in a major way influenced the music of Pachelbel to have a flare of Italian touch. He grew very famous in the empire and was so fond of the capital Vienna that he spend more than one quarter of his entire life living and practicing music in Vienna. The musicians during the time of Pachelbel made a living almost entirely out of music alone. There were quite a number of job opportunities for anyone who was good in music. Pachelbel is one of the veteran musicians of the time and he spent his life making a career out of music till his death at the age of 53. In fact at some point in time Pachelbel was offered jobs but he declined. He already had a job at a church where they considered him a very important part of the society and his departure will would leave a huge gap in the community. This led to the church offering him an increase of salary and he opted to stay on in the church for another four years. Musicians at the time worked as court organists, church organists, tutors in