Canon in D

• Rangeoctave and a major third
• Notes17, 10 different
• ScaleMajor, no accidentals
• Length hereabout 15 s

About Canon in D

Pachelbel wrote the Canon and Gigue in D for three violins and bass around 1680. It was almost forgotten until a 1968 recording made it one of the most played pieces of baroque music and a fixture at weddings.

The whole piece is variations over eight bass notes that repeat without change. The tab is the long descending line the first violin opens with — the phrase everyone recognises — which walks down the scale from the third above the octave.

Play Canon in D on your instrument

25 of the 27 playable instruments here have every note it needs. 25 play it where the library writes it; the rest move it to another key or octave, and each page says which. Every page has the instrument itself, with the song loaded, above the notes.

• Kalimba tabsas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Piano letter notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Mbira tabsas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Oud notesas written · C3–E4 · octave and a major third
• Violin notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Cello notesas written · C3–E4 · octave and a major third
• Erhu notesas written · D4–F♯5 · octave and a major third
• Dulcimer tabas written · D4–F♯5 · octave and a major third
• Xylophone letter notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Marimba letter notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Glockenspiel letter notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Steel Drum letter notesas written · F4–A5 · octave and a major third
• Ocarina notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Harmonica tabsas written · C5–E6 · octave and a major third
• Trumpet notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Clarinet notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Saxophone notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Flute notesas written · G4–B5 · octave and a major third
• Recorder notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Tuba notesas written · B♭1–D3 · octave and a major third
• Euphonium notesas written · B♭2–D4 · octave and a major third
• Trombone notesas written · B♭2–D4 · octave and a major third
• Accordion letter notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Harp letter notesas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third
• Lyre tabsas written · C4–E5 · octave and a major third

Instruments that cannot play it

• Guzheng — it would need G4, C♯5, which it does not have in any size or key here.
• Handpan — it would need B4, D5, E5, which it does not have in any size or key here.

Canon in D letter notes

This is the opening line. Written in C major, from C4 to E5, with each note’s number in the scale under it — the form that transfers to any instrument. A dash holds a note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and each line is one phrase.

Where these notes come from

Johann Pachelbel, c. 1680. Public domain.

No lyrics are printed on this page or any other here: these pages are about a melody and how to play it.

More classical melodies

• Going Home (New World Largo)Antonín Dvořák, 1893
• Ode to JoyLudwig van Beethoven, 1824
• Brahms' LullabyJohannes Brahms, 1868