Search - Pachelbel, Chamber Choir of Namur, Tubery :: Johann Pachelbel: Christ lag in Todesbanden

Despite the universal fame of Johann Pachelbel's beloved Canon in D, the tercentenary of his death went almost unnoticed in 2006. The present recording of Pachelbel cantatas thus fills an important gap in the discography related to the history of religious music in Germany in the Baroque period. One happily discovers a composer immersed in the polyphonic practice of central Germany, close to the ancestors of J.S. Bach and well aware of new influences from Italy. The compositions are organically linked to the melodies of Luther's chorales, and by their shape and size constitute an obvious link between the seventeenth century and the first cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach.Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) was a prominent composer and organist of his era. While working at the Eisenbach court in Thüringen, he became a close friend of J.S. Bach's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach. As a parish musician, Pachelbel wrote most of his music for church services, especially for Mass and Vespers, when both singers and instrumentalists took part. His instrumental accompaniments are unusually rich. Although much of Pachelbel's music is lost, around twenty-six motets; nineteen "spiritual songs;" and thirteen Magnificats, geistliche Konzerte, and Masses have survived.