Johann Pachelbel

On 25 October, 1681, Pachelbel married Barbara Gabler, daughter of the Stadt-Major of Erfurt. The couple was blessed with a son. Unfortunately, in October 1683, both his wife and child died from an attack of plague.

On 24 August 1684, ten months after the death of his first wife, Pachelbel married Judith Drommer, daughter of a coppersmith. They had five sons and two daughters.

Among his sons, Wilhelm Hieronymus and Charles Theodore followed in his footsteps and became noted organ composers. Another son, Johann Michael, became an internationally known instrument maker. His daughter Amalia was a renowned painter and engraver.

Johann Pachelbel was born into a middle class family in Nuremberg, a great center for learning and culture. His father, Johann (Hans) Pachelbel was a wine dealer and his mother, Anna (Anne) Maria Mair, was his second wife. It is not known if they had any other children.

The exact date of his birth is not known; but records show that Johann Pachelbel was baptized on September 1, 1653. Therefore, it has been assumed that he was born sometime in late August.

He began his education at St. Lorenz Hauptschule and then went to Auditorio Aegediano, where he showed great academic talent. Side by side, he also began to show an exceptional musical ability.

Subsequently, he started musical training under Heinrich Schwemmer, a music teacher who later became the cantor of St. Sebaldus Church. It is possible that Pachelbel also received training under Georg Caspar Wecker, another renowned music teacher of that time.

On June 29, 1669, after graduating from school, he entered Universität Altdorf (University of Altdorf), located in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, a small town outside Nuremberg. Here, he was appointed an organist at Church of Saint Lorenz.

In 1672, Prentz left Regensburg. It is not known what Pachelbel actually did but as per records, he had moved to Vienna by 1673. The city, at that time, was the center of Habsburg Empire and culturally very important. Italian music was much in demand there.

There Pachelbel worked as deputy organist at the famous Saint Stephen Cathedral, commonly known by its German name, Stephansdom. During this period, he might have studied music under Johann Kaspar Kerll, who at that time was living in Vienna. It is assumed so because Pachelbel’s music has traces of Kerll’s influence.

In addition, he must have imbibed a lot from the well-known organists and composers like Alessandro Poglietti and Georg Muffat, who had been living in Vienna during this period. He lived there until 1677 and then moved to Eisenach, Germany.

In Eisenach, he was employed as a court organist under Daniel Eberlin, the Kapellmeister in the court of Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach. He also became friendly with Johann Ambrosius Bach, himself a noted musician and father of Johann Sebastian Bach.

When in 1678 Johann George I’s brother died, court music began to be curtailed and like many other musicians, Pachelbel too lost his job. He therefore left for Erfurt on May 18, armed with a testimonial from Eberlin, in which he had described Pachelbel as ‘einen perfekten und raren Virtuosen’, a perfect and rare virtuoso.