Johann Pachelbel

(1653 - 1706)

Johann Pachelbel - Prague Classical ConcertsJohann Pachelbel (September 1, 1653 - March 9, 1706) was born in Nuremberg, then one of the so-called "free" imperial cities and a great center of learning and culture, a took instructions from Heinrich Schwemmer. After leaving school in 1669, he spent a year in Altdorf before moving to Regensburg where he began to make valuable contacts with musicians associated with the Austrian Court in Vienna. By 1673 he was living in Vienna, where he was deputy organist at St. Stephen's Cathedral and took music lessons with Johann Kaspar Kerll, who fashioned Pachelbel's sophisticated organ style. The younger man often deputized for Kerll on the organ of the Predigerkirche.

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In 1677 Pachelbel left Vienna and began a peripatetic period in his life where he held the organ position in churches in many towns across the central and southern German states, including Eisenach and Erfurt (where he came into contact with the Bach family, including Ambrosius Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach's father), Stuttgart and Gotha. He remained in Gotha from 1692-95, then return to his home city of Nuremburg, this time on a substantially different footing than when he had left it; Pachelbel was by now a famous and influential figure in the world of music, his especial skill in composition – his infinitely inventive creation of chorale variations stressing the importance of cantabile and clarity of line – proving especially popular and definitive in the world of organ music at that time. His many pupils included Johann Sebastian Bach's elder brother Johann Christoph, who was one of many to digest his methodology and carry his compositional message to others.

Pachelbel had return to Nuremberg to succeed to his old teacher Georg Kaspar Wecker at the church of St. Sebaldus, a position he retained until his death at the age of 52. Most of his music was written for the organ, but some of his earliest surviving works are a set of motets including Nun danket alle Gott and Der Herr ist König, written during his time in Erfurt, which are a models of clarity and tunefulness. His greatest compositional achievement is generally recognized to be the Hexachordum Apollinis of 1699, six sets of keyboard variations on various aria, but other worthy efforts include Musikalische Stephens-Gedanken of 1683 and the Musikalische Ergötzung (1695), a series of dance suites written for string trio which were meant for the type of domestic entertainment at court or among musical colleagues supplied in a later generation by Georg Philipp Telemann's Tafelmusik. It would seem that the famed Canon and Gigue for three violins and bass continuo was probably written for a similar Hausmusik function; its orchestration occurred much later.

Upcoming classical concerts of the composer's music in Prague:

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Pearls of Classical Music in Prague Castle - Lobkowicz Palace

    Time: 13:00
    Prague Castle, Lobkowicz Palace

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 17:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Bolero, Carmina Burana

    Time: 17:30
    Spanish Synagogue

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Famous organ works and duets for soprano and trumpet

    Time: 18:00
    St. Nicholas Church in the Old Town Square

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Mozart Dinner - Your private opera in Prague

    Time: 19:00
    Boccaccio Ballroom

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

    Time: 19:00
    Klementinum, St. Clement's Cathedral

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Famous Organ Concerts

    Time: 19:00
    St. Francis Church

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    The Four Seasons, Emperor Concerto & Chopin in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 19:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Nov 5 Tuesday
    Abrakadabra

    Time: 20:00
    Image - Black Light Theatre

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    Pearls of Classical Music in Prague Castle - Lobkowicz Palace

    Time: 13:00
    Prague Castle, Lobkowicz Palace

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    The Best of Classics

    Time: 17:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Gregr Hall

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 17:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    The Best of World and Czech Music

    Time: 17:30
    Spanish Synagogue

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    Music of the Great Baroque Masters

    Time: 18:00
    St. Nicholas Church in the Old Town Square

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    Classic Spectacular

    Time: 18:30
    Klementinum, St. Salvator Church (Charles Bridge)

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    Famous Organ Concerts

    Time: 19:00
    St. Francis Church

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    Afrikania

    Time: 20:00
    Image - Black Light Theatre

  • Nov 6 Wednesday
    WOW Show

    Time: 20:00
    WOW - Black Light Theatre

  • Nov 7 Thursday
    Pearls of Classical Music in Prague Castle - Lobkowicz Palace

    Time: 13:00
    Prague Castle, Lobkowicz Palace

  • Nov 7 Thursday
    The Four Seasons, Gypsy Airs op.20

    Time: 17:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Gregr Hall