Pachelbel's Canon in D and Barber's Adagio for Strings

963 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Vocal music in the baroque era

The two pieces chosen for this paper are particularly famous and are recognizable audibly, if not by name, by the majority of western populations. Pachelbel’s Canon in D was virtually forgotten from the 1700’s until it was rediscovered in 1919 by Gustav Beckmann. It gradually gained publicity, and burst into the popular culture after being used as the score for a movie, it is now by far the most famous canon and of the most well known pieces of baroque music.

The canon is a musical form popular in the Baroque period and is characterized by imitative counterpoint in which multiple voices, in this case violins, play the same piece of music but start at different times and in different keys. Pachelbel wrote his canon for 3 violins and a basso continuo which may have been a bass or a harpsichord. It is a strict canon in which the first voice is imitated precisely by the others for the duration of the piece. It contains 3 parts in two bar intervals with the new voices introduced at said two bar intervals.

Another characteristically baroque feature of the Canon is the use of a Basso Continuo. During the Renaissance and earlier periods, the bass was used as a melodic device as the lowest voice, equal to the any other instrument. During the 17th century, the bass began the transition to becoming a harmonic device providing a ‘backbone’ for which it is now almost exclusively used. In Canon, the bass serves a double purpose as a Basso Ostinato or Ground Bass, a melodic device which entails the continuous repetition of the same two bar sequence for the duration of the piece.

It also has an associated gigue, a classically baroque dance piece that departs from the strict canon form in favor of a livelier more jolly melody. In the ba...

... middle of paper ...

...Web. 15 Dec. 2011. .

Millar, H. M. "Henry Purcell and the Ground Bass." Music and Letters 29.4 (1948): 340. Print.

"Adagio for Strings." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. .

"Pachelbel's Canon." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. .

Paravonian, Rob. "Pachelbel Rant." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 21 Nov. 2006. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. .

Schwartz, Steve. "Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings, Op. 11." Classical Net, 1995. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. .

"The Impact of Barber's 'Adagio for Strings' : NPR, 4 Nov. 2006. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. .

Show More
Related

  • The Story of Bianco Alfani: Reflecting the Nature of 14th Century Florentine Society

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    Piero Veneziano, Bianco Alfani, in Lauro Martines (ed.) An Italian Renaissance Sextet: Six Tales in Historical Context (University of Toronto Press, 1994), pp. 100

    Read More

  • The SUmmer of a Jupiter Symphony

    2394 Words  | 5 Pages

    Grove, George. The Musical Times Volume 47. United Kingdom: Musical Times Publications Ltd. 1906, Print.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sinfonia In D

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    A sinfonia (Italian for symphony) broadly refers to a number of instrumental works from the Baroque period, including symphonies, sonatas, canzonas, concerti, and Italian opera overtures. Even J.S. Bach titles his “three-part” inventions for harpsichord “Sinfonia”. Torelli’s Sinfonia in D (G.8) is a four-movement “concerto” for trumpet, strings and harpsichord continuo. Unlike a concerto grosso, where a main theme is presented and then reappears in fragments, the main themes of Sinfonia in D are developed rather freely. The second movement (Adagio) is a very short, slow, interlude without trumpet that introduces the third movement (Allegro). Hence, the program shows these two movements as “adagio-allegro” joined together.

    Read More

  • Beethoven, Bach And Bartok: Comparisons

    3266 Words  | 7 Pages

    TitleAuthor/ EditorPublisherDate James Galways’ Music in TimeWilliam MannMichael Beazley Publishers1982 The Concise Oxford History of MusicGerald AbrahamOxford University Press1979 Music in Western CivilizationPaul Henry LangW. W. Norton and Company1941 The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Classical MusicRobert AinsleyCarlton Books Limited1995 The Cambridge Music GuideStanley SadieCambridge University Press1985 School text: Western European Orchestral MusicMary AllenHamilton Girls’ High School1999 History of MusicRoy BennettCambridge University Press1982 Classical Music for DummiesDavid PogueIDG Books Worldwide,Inc1997

    Read More

  • Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Price, Curtis. "Dido and Aeneas: Questions of Style and Evidence." Early Music 22 1, (1994): 115-25.

    Read More

  • Religion’s Profound Effect on Musical Development

    3673 Words  | 8 Pages

    Daum, Gary. "Chapter 12 The Baroque Era (1600-1750)." Georgetown Prep. 1994. Georgetown University. 12 July 2005 .

    Read More

  • Biography of Giovanni Gabrieli

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schulenberg, David. Music of the Baroque. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ML193.S38 2001 c.2

    Read More

  • Instrumental Music Through the Eras

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are two pieces in our Renaissance Era musical feature this evening, the first by Pierre Phalèse called Passamezzo d'Italye - Reprise – Gaillarde. Phalèse began as a bookseller in 1545 and not long after he set up a publishing house. By 1575 he had around 189 music books. Much of his work was devoted to sacred music but there was a small amount of Flemish songs and instrumental works. Phalèse borrowed work from many composers and did not hesitate to include other composer’s music in his works. The sec...

    Read More

  • The Trumpet Concerto For Two Trumpets Analysis

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Baroque style of music was in prominence from the beginning of the 17th century until the mid-18th century. Some primary features of this style, particularly in the later years, include an emphasis on polyphonic textures and a continuity throughout the entire piece. Most compositions were created for specific events and sometimes written for particular instruments. (Kamien, 2015). The Trumpet Concerto for 2 Trumpets, composed by Antonio Vivaldi, is one example of these late Baroque style compositions and one we can use to analyze: the common elements, the overall effect, and the composer’s possible perspective.

    Read More

  • Music and Musicians in the Renaissance

    1611 Words  | 4 Pages

    From the Early Renaissance to the High Renaissance, there was a movement from vocal music to a combination of vocal and instrumental music (Brown, 1976). There are seven categories of instrumental music: 1) vocal music played by instruments, 2) settings of pre-existing melodies, 3) variation sets, 4) ricercars, fantasias, and canzonas, 5) preludes, preambles, and toccatas for solo instruments, 6) dance music, and 7) songs composed specifically for lute and solo voice (Brown, 1976). Italy dominated the stage for instrumental music at this time, and it was not until the last decades of the sixteenth century that English instrumental music became popular (Brow...

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Joseph Haydn And Ludwig Van Beethoven

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Two composers who marked the beginning and the end of the Classical Period respectively. By analysing the last piano sonata of Haydn (Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI:52)) and the first and last piano sonatas of Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2, No.1, Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111), this essay will study the development of Beethoven’s composition style and how this conformed or didn’t conform to the Classical style. The concepts of pitch and expressive techniques will be focused on, with a broader breakdown on how these two concepts affect many of the other concepts of music. To make things simpler, this essay will analyse only the first movements of each of the sonatas mentioned.

    Read More

  • Evolution of Music: From Renaissance to Baroque Era

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    Typically, Renaissance sacred music is; rhythmically moderate, melodically plain (similar to a plainchant) and lacking embellishment, the polyphony “mellifluous and homogeneous with a marked lack of chromaticism and dissonance” and scored for vocals only. The Baroque is substantially different: rhythm of dance music, melodic melodies are long and ornate; Polyphony and harmony full of “chromaticism and dissonance, driving each phrase forward in search of consonance and resolution”; and scored for both vocals and many instruments. The Baroque sacred music expresses itself in its sacred music as much as it’s secular music; “The nature of the religiosity is one of unrestrained joy and celebration, and the emotional impact is almost physical in its energy and exuberance” (Greenberg,

    Read More

  • Performance Practice of Baroque Vocal Technique

    3382 Words  | 7 Pages

    Strozzi, Barbara. Cantate, ariete a una, doce, e tre voci, Opus 3. Ed. Gail Archer. In Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. vol. 83. Ed. Christoph Wolff. Madisono: A-R Editions, Inc., 1997.

    Read More

  • A Complete Analysis of The Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Opus 26

    2023 Words  | 5 Pages

    Historical. This brilliant composition is considered as one of the two most important violin concertos of the German Romantic period, with Mendelssohn’s vi...

    Read More

  • Religion in The Merchant of Venice

    1944 Words  | 4 Pages

    Danson, Lawrence. The Harmonies of The Merchant of Venice. Great Britain: Yale University Press, 1978. Print.

    Read More

More about Pachelbel's Canon in D and Barber's Adagio for Strings

Open Document