Music Monday ~ Pachelbel's Canon in D

What is it about Pachelbel's Canon in D that has endeared it to so many musicians and listeners during the past few decades, whereas for a couple of centuries or so after the composer's death it was ignored, virtually forgotten?

Maybe it's the fact that there are no copyright restrictions upon the piece. It can be used (and abused) free of licence and expense. Or maybe there's something a wee bit special about the chord structure that somehow linked it to late 20th century musical sensibilities. Maybe Pachelbel unknowlingly discovered a set of magical chords? I don't know. In fact I wasn't familiar with the piece at all until my husband mentioned it to me during a conversation about classical music used in popular mode.




(Note: the word canon has umpteen definitions. In music a canon is a contrapuntal (counterpoint) composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration.)


In its classical form Pachelbel's Canon in D is often used at weddings, especially here in the USA. It has featured in the soundtrack of several popular movies - the first of these probably Robert Redford's Ordinary People. From that point in the 1980s every musician and his dog started to play around with parts of Pachelbel's Canon. Artists as diverse as The Village People, Coolio, The Pet Shop Boys, The Farm have used its chords and themes. Snippets of the piece have been used in TV commercials. There's a very good web page HERE with lists of songs using or inspired by Pachelbel's Canon, and details of its use in movies, TV etc.

Johann Pachelbel composed this piece around 1680. He was then one of Germany's foremost organist-composers. Born in Nuremburg, baptized on 1 September 1653 indicating, possibly, his birth date having been in late August. Unfortunately no actual date of birth has ever been established. Any astrological investigation can be sketchy at best, but there might be something of interest even so.

Pachelbel, as with so many of his contemporaries, met with hardship and tragedy. He lost his first wife and baby son to the plague of 1683; fled from the invasion of Stuttgart by the French in 1692, settled in Nuremburg and re-maried. The couple had 7children, 2 of whom became muscians. Pachelbel died in March 1706, aged 52.

Chart below is set for 25 August 1653, one week earlier than his baptism.



I guess he could have been born a week or more earlier than this though, putting Sun in late Leo. In Pachelbel's case it's necessary to to concentrate only on the slower moving planets: Jupiter, Saturn, the outer planets, and perhaps Mars. These would have been in much the same position throughout the likely birth period of mid to late August. As it happens there's a configuration in the chart linking these slower-movers. It's made up of two oppositions linked by trines and sextiles. Astrologers call such a configuration a Mystic Rectangle.



Why such a configuration was given this name isn't clear. No astrologer I've read has ever claimed that it has any mystical connotations. There's a feeling of balance and harmonious stability from this configuration though. Interpretation will depend on the planets involved. In this case, Saturn-Jupiter opposition, Pluto-Mars/Uranus/Neptune opposition. Sextiles at the short sides of the rectangle, trines via the long sides. Here we have powerhouses in opposition, seeking balance - yet with an underlying harmony via the trines and sextiles. The symbols of both tradition (Saturn) and the avant garde (Uranus) are represented, along with creativity (Neptune) and publication to the masses (Jupiter). This astrological rectangle continues to distribute its mystical magic to the masses more than four centuries after it took part in the creation of Canon in D!

Four samples. Many more are listed at the link earlier in this post.

Mainz Chamber Orchestra & Gunter Kehr ~ Classical version:



A General electric advert from the 1980s.




Coolio with I'll C U When U Get There




The Farm with All Together Now (official song for the England Soccer Team's Euro 2004 campaign. Song reached number 5 in the UK charts that summer.)

Music Monday ~~ The Flower Duet from Lakmé by Léo Delibes

I'm continuing to rummage through classical music, looking for pieces which, due to their inclusion in movies, TV drama, or commercials have found their way into the consciousness of those of us usually not classically inclined - musically that is.

Next up: The Flower Duet from the opera Lakmé written by French composer Léo Delibes in 1883. The theme of Lakmé, is the love of a British officer and the daughter of a Brahmin priest in mid-19th century India. The piece has been included as background music in TV, movies and in advertising . There's long list of such inclusions at the Flower Duet page of Wikipedia, along with a rough English transation of the lyrics.

A sample from the list of movies, etc featuring this music: True Romance, Private Parts, The American President, The Oh in Ohio, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Meet the Parents, Superman Returns, Five Corners, Someone to Watch Over Me, The Hunger, Carlito's Way, I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Also often recognised for its use in British Airways TV commercials, from 1989 onwards, and in several Godiva (chocolate) commercials in the USA; and in a few episodes of The Simpsons. The music has been interpreted by popular artists such as (among others) Mike Oldfield, Yanni, LL Cool J and The Rhapsody. In early 2008, 15 year old Australian classical-crossover, soprano Grace Bawden recorded a rendition, using her own English lyrics.

What of Léo Delibes ? Information, other than a bare skeleton of his career and compositions is extremely hard to come by on-line. From the little I've gleaned: he was born Clément Philibert Léo Delibes in Saint-Germain du Val (near La Fleche) France on February 21, 1836. Son of a mailman (who died early in Léo's childhood) and a musical mother, he was also grandson of an opera singer. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, became accompanist and chorus master for the Théâtre-Lyrique, and later second chorus master at the Paris Opéra. He was also organist at Pierre de Chaillot from 1865 to 1871. In 1871, at age 35, he married Léontine Estelle Denain. In 1881 he became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire.

Léo Delibes was the first to write music of high quality for the ballet, opening up a new field for serious composers. His influence can be traced in the work of Tchaikovsky and others who wrote for the dance. His music for Coppélia and Sylvia, are noted as works that moved ballet music a major step forward.

Delibes died 20 in 1891.

Natal chart shown below, set for 12 noon - time of birth isn't known.



Key here is the stellium (cluster)in gentle, dreamy Pisces linking Sun/Uranus/Mercury; but there's more: Pisces' ruler, creative Neptune links via semi-sextile to the stellium from Aquarius (sign ruled by Uranus, part of the stellium). There's a semi-sextile flanking the stellium from the other side: Venus (planet of the arts) in Aries. All the named planets lie between 0 degrees and 4 degrees of their signs, and blend the characteristics of signs and planets. So we have a blend of: dreamy/emotional/gentle/creative/inventive/new/pioneering/artistry. Moon was almost at the end of Aries at 12 noon, so if Delibes was born later it would have been in Taurus. Either Moon placement would match what we know of him : Aries (pioneer of beautiful ballet music)- Taurus is ruled by Venus, so Moon in early Taurus would form yet another link to his Pisces stellium.

There's yet another link to that stellium to be noted: a Grand Trine (a harmonious circuit) in emotion-driven Water signs linking the Pisces stellium to Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Scorpio.

This is a chart filled with gentle emotion spiked by a (still gentle) pioneering spirit.

Examples of how the music has been used during the 20th century and beyond.
First, a classic version:

In a British Airways Commercial

A pretty version by the Modern Mandolin Quartet

And, here the music was used in a promotional video for Nichi Vendola, Italian politician and president of the Apulia region.

NOTE For the next 2 days posts, by Gian Paul and myself will, if things go to plan, be published automatically, via the Blogger scheduling facility. I'll not be around to comment or respond after today, until Wednesday/Thursday.

PPS: Gian Paul reports that he has internet difficulties in Brazil, has not been able to see the blog for some days - so he too might not be able to respond to comments.

Music Monday ~ New Songs for Old ~ Old Songs for New

I have a mild obsession these days with musical combinations of classical and modern. Maybe something is in the air - the astrological atmosphere. Saturn currently transits in opposition to Uranus/Jupiter. That, being translated = the old & the new connected in teeter-totter fashion (Brit translation = see-saw fashion). This configuration could have a lot to do with my current interest, more especially because Saturn and Uranus are co-rulers of my natal Aquarius Sun. Am I following a "siren call" of the planets? (wink)

Monday postings have recently featured classical music of Carl Orff, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Rodrigo used in modern settings. During the past week my attention has been drawn to a couple more examples - one of them in the opposite direction, so to speak : taking a modern composition and teeter-tottering it to sound classical.

A friend and relative, known here as commenter TNPOTUS (aka Jeff), sent me a link to the video below featuring Rick Wakeman (once upon a time on keyboards for the group Yes), and classical guitarist David Paton playing a classical-sounding version of the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby. Love it! It's refreshing to hear the pendulum swoosh t'other way from the usual "lift" of the classics for modern use. Not just anybody can achieve this level of perfection though - the modern piece has to have the right quality and potential, the arranger has to have special musical skills, comparable to Wakeman's - pretty rare these days I'd guess.

The other examples, this time old to new, are by the British group Muse, headed by Matthew Bellamy. In two tracks from their most recent album Resistance Bellamy has "lifted" part of Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin for Collateral Damage (which slips smoothly in after The United States of Eurasia). On another track part of the music from an aria, “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix”, from Samson and Delilah, written by Camille Saint-Saëns is used towards the end of I Belong To You.

I'll post the classical originals first, then the songs where Muse includes the music. In both cases the classic references come in the later part of the Muse videos.

I'm wondering whether anybody knows of other instances like the Rick Wakeman one, where modern becomes classical ?

Diana Krall

After writing about k.d. lang yesterday, a comment from a blogging buddy led me to think about about k.d.'s fellow-Canadian singer, Diana Krall. A quick look at Diana's chart (14 November 1964, Nanaimo, Canada, time unknown)
shows some similarities with k.d.'s.
(12 noon chart shown)



Both singers' charts have an emphasis on Scorpio and Virgo, both have Venus (planet of music and the arts) in its home sign of Libra, and within a degreee of each other-Lang @ 18.57*Libra, Krall @ 19.55*Libra.

Whereas Diana Krall sticks to jazz interpretations, k.d.'s style is wider ranging, more contemporary and a little nearer to the popular market, but neither is exactly mainstream. They are both of the generation with Uranus and Pluto in Virgo, and both undoubtedly have a distinctive sound - passionate, sexy, yet still delicate. A sound liable to bring on goosebumps and curled toes. Scorpio/Virgo/Libra is a potent mix!

Here is Diana Krall singing my favourite, Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You". I think she sings it better than Joni.



and here, with Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are"

Tuning into the Planets ?

I'm noticing recently that I'm itching to listen to more classical music. Not the really obscure heavy stuff though. I'm drifting into it, not leaping headlong!

We saw "No Reservations" at the cinema this week. The soundtrack is really nice -there's some opera among it which I enjoyed - the movie's not bad too. It's a nice, gentle story and there are lots of shots of yummy gourmet food.

I'm wondering if this veering of my musical taste could be due to feeling celestial shifts. "As above, so below". Saturn has moved into into Earthy Virgo and Pluto is heading ever nearer to Earthy Capricorn, the next eclipse is due in an Earthy area too. Classical or classical-type music probably belongs to Earth more than do pop, rock, or jazz. Country may well have Earthy tones too, but on a different level.

Coincidentally, I stumbled yesterday upon some YouTube videos of performances on "Britain's got Talent" - Paul Potts, a shy cellphone salesman, won the final of the series singing opera! He does a great version of Nessun Dorma. The audience went crazy, even Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan were effusive in their praise. Perhaps I'm not the only one feeling this classical yen! I've already ordered Paul's new CD !

Maybe all of this is due to vibes from above...or maybe it's me just searching for something new - or something old. Perhaps it's regression. My first ever LP, bought with pocket money back in the 1950s, was of Mario Lanza singing opera and operetta. I loved his voice, and his passion - still do.

Mario Lanza's birthday was 31 January (mine is 27 January). In all these years I never did realise he was a fellow-Aquarian. Some old fashioned astrologers used to tell us that Aquarians are cold and unemotional. WRONG! Listen to Mario Lanza for proof! Of course, in Lanza's case, Scorpio Moon and the Pisces planets were very much involved too. Water is the predominant element in his natal chart. I have no birth time for him, but I'm pretty sure that the Moon would have been in Scorpio whatever time he was born.

Lanza's life and career were all too short. He died aged only 38 after several health problems culminating in a pulmonary embolism. His widow died from a drug overdose five months later, and their younger son died aged 37 of a heart attack. Sad stories. Lanza's chart shows several oppositions including: Saturn and Jupiter in Virgo opposing Venus and Mars in Pisces (perhaps that big voice of his was involved here), and Sun opposite Neptune. Obviously, with his great talent came great challenge.

A YouTube video of Mario Lanza singing Nessun Dorma.