With this work, Pachelbel, who was born in Nuremberg, created one of the most popular orchestral pieces of the baroque period. In the canon two of the strictest contrapuntal forms are combined: The three violin parts form an extensive canon with entries of two bars distance. To this, a ground bass (basso ostinato) has been added repeating its two-bar tone formula 28 times. The technical mastery of the piece can be ad-mired just as much as its effect lies in the melodic and sensuous power of its string tones. The modest technical demands on the musicians are diametrically opposed to the compositional level: they do not go beyond the third position.
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