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.

Enjoy classical concerts of Pachelbel music in Prague. Book tickets online >>>

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:

  • Mar 28 Thursday
    The Best of Classics

    Time: 18:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Mar 28 Thursday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Sarasate - Gypsy Airs op. 20

    Time: 20:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Mar 29 Friday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 17:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Mar 30 Saturday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Sarasate - Gypsy Airs op. 20

    Time: 17:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Mar 30 Saturday
    The Best of World and Czech Music

    Time: 17:00
    St. Martin in the Wall Church

  • Mar 30 Saturday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 17:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Mar 31 Sunday
    Concert at Prague Castle - Mozart, Vivaldi and Pachelbel

    Time: 16:30
    Prague Castle, St. George's Basilica

  • Mar 31 Sunday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 17:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Mar 31 Sunday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons

    Time: 17:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 1 Monday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons in Old Prague

    Time: 16:30
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 1 Monday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 1 Monday
    Masters of Classics

    Time: 19:30
    St. Salvator Church (Salvatorska street)

  • Apr 2 Tuesday
    The Best of Classics in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 16:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 2 Tuesday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 2 Tuesday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 2 Tuesday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Sarasate - Gypsy Airs op. 20

    Time: 20:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Apr 3 Wednesday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 4 Thursday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 4 Thursday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 5 Friday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 5 Friday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons

    Time: 20:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 6 Saturday
    The Best of World and Czech Music

    Time: 17:00
    St. Martin in the Wall Church

  • Apr 6 Saturday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons in Old Prague

    Time: 17:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 6 Saturday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 6 Saturday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 6 Saturday
    Classic Spectacular

    Time: 19:30
    Church of Our Lady before Tyn (Tyn Church)

  • Apr 7 Sunday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons

    Time: 17:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 7 Sunday
    Concert at Prague Castle - Mozart, Vivaldi and Pachelbel

    Time: 17:30
    Prague Castle, St. George's Basilica

  • Apr 7 Sunday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 7 Sunday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Sarasate - Gypsy Airs op. 20

    Time: 20:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Apr 8 Monday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons in Old Prague

    Time: 16:30
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 8 Monday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 9 Tuesday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 9 Tuesday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 9 Tuesday
    The Best of Classics

    Time: 20:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Apr 10 Wednesday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 10 Wednesday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Sarasate - Gypsy Airs op. 20

    Time: 20:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Apr 11 Thursday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 12 Friday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 12 Friday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons

    Time: 20:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 13 Saturday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons in Old Prague

    Time: 17:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 13 Saturday
    The Best of World and Czech Music

    Time: 17:00
    St. Martin in the Wall Church

  • Apr 13 Saturday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 13 Saturday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 14 Sunday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons

    Time: 17:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 14 Sunday
    Concert at Prague Castle - Mozart, Vivaldi and Pachelbel

    Time: 17:30
    Prague Castle, St. George's Basilica

  • Apr 14 Sunday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 14 Sunday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Sarasate - Gypsy Airs op. 20

    Time: 20:00
    Municipal House (Obecní dům), Smetana hall

  • Apr 15 Monday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons in Old Prague

    Time: 16:30
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 15 Monday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 16 Tuesday
    Concert at Prague Castle - Mozart, Vivaldi and Pachelbel

    Time: 17:30
    Prague Castle, St. George's Basilica

  • Apr 16 Tuesday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 16 Tuesday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 18 Thursday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 18 Thursday
    Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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

  • Apr 19 Friday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel

  • Apr 19 Friday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons

    Time: 20:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 20 Saturday
    Vivaldi Four Seasons in Old Prague

    Time: 17:00
    St. Giles Church

  • Apr 20 Saturday
    The Best of World and Czech Music

    Time: 17:00
    St. Martin in the Wall Church

  • Apr 20 Saturday
    Classic Spectacular in Mirror Chapel

    Time: 18:00
    Klementinum, Mirror Chapel