Fellow Dopers, I love classical music, but this one is becoming like Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven on the station I listen to. It is so over played. I don’t care if I ever hear it again. Anyone else with me, and if so, do you have other classicals that are way over played? I’d love your input.
I’ll certainly never get tired of this version.
Nitpick: It’s in D Major.
It is one of my favorite pieces of work - but I can see how it might be overplayed. I haven’t heard it in ages though.
I used to enjoy George Winston’s variations on (etc.)
I used to play cello and have actually fallen asleep playing it. The same eight slow notes, 26 times IIRC. Booooooring.
In that case, you really need to check the link that thelurkinghorror posted, if you haven’t seen it already - a fellow former cellist has his own take on his dislike of the song.
Yep - it makes me gag.
It is way too overplayed, and any “interpretive” versions - I am looking at you George Winston - are the schmaltz-y music equivalent of Thomas Kinkade.
I used to play flute professionally at weddings. While I never got stuck with just eight crappy notes, I got to the point where I could play the damn thing from memory.
I hate it.
The first time I heard this it was being played on a monstrous pipe organ at Rosario Resort in Washington. Utterly glorious.
Since I never listen to the radio, it hasn’t become over-exposed for me, and I can still appreciate it; takes me back to that big room and that organ, with the snow falling outside.
High school orchestra; viola; a sixteenth rest followed by three sixteenth notes, pizzicato. And they couldn’t be bothered to actually write it all out, it was two measures followed by two-measure repeat signs, so you’re playing and trying to keep track of how many times you’ve played it. I never once got to the end exactly right.
That was in 1983, and it was overplayed then.
It’s a shame; it’s overplayed because it’s pretty. I still enjoy it when I hear it, but I listen to a lot of classical music and it’s not much in the rotation.
Sadly, in his own lifetime Pachelbel was far from a one-hit wonder. The Canon was a trivial work; he cranked out hundreds of organ and vocal works during his relatively successful life. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the Canon in D became the nauseatingly ubiquitous work it is today, far too late for him to collect any royalties (given that he died in 1706).
I find it very peaceful and used to listen to it when I was stressed. I should dig out an old CD and listen to it.
I wasn’t into classical at all and didn’t know it till about 15 years ago.
I had got a job in a Motorola plant and was working shift and didn’t drive. I had to walk 2 miles at 5:30 am and then get the first bus out to the area that the plant was in.
One rainy cold winter morning I was on the bus and totally depressed. I hated the job and my life, it was a real low point. I was listening to the radio on my walkman and the dj put on Pachelbel’s Canon.
It was the strongest reaction to music I ever had. I really had to try hard not to break down and cry on the bus. The beauty that filled my ears was in such contrast to the cold wet miserable morning I was experiencing. I remember those 3 minutes like they were yesterday. I fell in love with the piece.
It’s way overplayed nowadays but still remains one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve heard. The churning cellos get me everytime.
Bolding mine. Aren’t professionals supposed to do this?
Sorry to be a Pollyanna threadshitter, but I love it. Each and every time I hear it, I can’t get enough of it.
When I was in high school, we did a five or six part choral all girls version of it (I don’t know who wrote the words, but I don’t believe they were original to Pachelbel) that gives me chills just to remember. We took it to State, and we sang it at local churches and it was always beautiful and inspiring.
It’s the sacred song that makes me most feel like a Christian (which I’m not), with the soaring awe of God and His creation. Let me see how many of the words I remember:
In the silence of the world
Oh Lord we consecrate thy peace
Free from all the world’s desires
Free from pain and all anxiety
O Lord, Our God, wisdom, joy and peace and love Divine
O Lord, Our God, glory praise and honor be always Thine
[something something] Have mercy on us, stay with us and protect us now
And then a whole heckuva bunch of alleluias, the different voices lifted and twining and dancing around one another and skittering off into the corners of the room, bringing light and happiness with them. 
Yeah, I love this song.
Depends. Most soloists are expected to, while most ensembles aren’t (though many do, depending on the piece, the size and composition of the ensemble, etc).
Musical groups generally cycle through so many works, with such a long period between repetitions of any particular work, that memorization would be pointless.
Yup. In a non-touring group that isn’t playing every night, whoever is in charge usually chooses a number of pieces to be played at a particular performance, and those pieces are rehearsed, performed once, and then put away. Then new material is chosen for the next performance.
Most versions are played, I feel, far too slowly. Pachelbel did pair the canon with a gigue, after all. Here’s a version that I think better reflects the tempo Pachelbel intended: Canon and Gigue in D major.
As an added bonus: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet’s ‘Loose’ Canon.