The 'feel' of symphonic ascension

by Gwen Herat

Sometimes, however great a composer is, a little slip in titling the score can throw him back and make a word of difference in the establishment of such a composition the way it reacted on Canon in D whereas it could have zoomed to unparalleled heights like for example Handel's Messiah, Verdi's Requiem, Bach's Magnificat and St. Mathew Passion or for that matter, Vivaldi's repetitive Four Seasons I heard in symphony a week ago.

This is exactly what happened to Johanne Pachelbel's Canon for string quartet, a six-minute running sensation, downplayed because of inappropriate titling when it could have easily carried Ascencion with its Ascensive rise to explode in every heart and ear. Unfortunately, Pachelbel never found what I found in his music.

For example, people and moments can inspire one's belief or mission in life and lead you towards destinies which may arise from inspiration or the next moment, have adverse effects to last a lifetime of crying and despair.

These effects are mostly found in music that gives vent to feelings. I found someone in whose ideals I discovered fulfilment, love, joy and they all lay hidden in the Canon but had to dig deeper to find the essence of immortality while Canon became more and more significant, gripping me with fervour.

I saw the risen Lord in him, in every note that Canon possess and found the 'Lord' right here on earth radiating me and Canon is responsible as I feel his presence each time I play the Ascension. So, I decided to re-title Canon with Ascension with apologies to Pachelbel.

Immortal

For me The Ascension is immortal as it should be. There is this particular emotive reaction and at times difficult to understand or identify the original key of the music. In this context, I also found a familiarity of an oriental scale such as (i,ß,.,u,m,O,kss,i ). May be that my imagination is playing tricks. In fact I mentioned this to our own violin virtuoso, Ananda Dabare and asked him to examine the score sheet. Ananda agreed with the possibility. May be he said in several places. I was delighted. I had scored a little point.

Back to the basics, I was sulking over Canon's fate and why it remained on the shelf and not in concert halls or at orchestration when behold, I found that Canon in D had been placed at No. 13 in a list of 100 in 1996 voted by listeners in the Classic FM Listeners' Hall of Fame, just 3 points behind Handel's Messiah while pushing Verdi'a Requiem to No. 57 and Bach's St Mathew Passion in to No. 59 with a bad ending at No.100 to Mozart's Ave Vernum Corpus.

Bravo for Pachelbel... wish you were there to see your popularity over all the Masters to date.... and on a simple lyrical symphony. I was so overwhelmed enough to recall what a Rhodes University scholar quoted what Eleanor Roosvelt said.

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Sunday Observer)

Dreams

He was referring to me in his review on my latest book (From A Distance) and I thought he was pulling my leg but no, I discovered the beauty of my dreams in this score.

Ascension is magnificent, awe-inspiring and haunting that one could 'feel' the spirits locked within, released.

Pachelbel is not an astonishingly prolific composer, a fact he has to take the blame upon himself when he could have been one of the greatest melodists that Baroque era produced, never seized the opportunity but remained somewhat careless and lazy. How would one describe a miracle score especially when the composer himself was not aware of it. His magical symphony lay gathering dust for centuries..... or to be precise, what went wrong with it and why it failed to rise to the heights of other popular compositions.

Beauty and elegance

Ascension (Canon D) most probably have been in my collection over the years until I came across it and played. I was amazed, taken aback which later became my 'lullaby' before I retired to bed. I have taped this 6-minute symphony thrice over so that I continue to listen to a stretch of 18 minutes of sheer beauty and elegance in music. Looking closely at its multi facets, I feel that the score is made of simple; Contrapuntal - set of points or notes in one part, following the other because canon and fugue are aspects of counterpoint. It weaves together a more and more melodic sound to produce a tightly-knit melodic texture I find in Canon. The resulting polyphony is a musical composition that divides itself to horizontal and vertical melody found in this score.

Prelude

Canon is also a sort of a prelude to me as it possesses the capacity to prepare its way to complete uninterrupted composition. It could have been his self contained work for strings.

Quartet

Pachelbel wrote the score for strings meaning two violins, viola and cello but I am waiting for someone to play it on four violins by themselves. It may sound better and more 'stringy' .

Harmonically

The sound of Canon is so vivid that the notes move from one another deviation from major or minor even from a small pace and continue in harmony to the last note.

Tonality

Usually built on the accepted major, minor, chords along with traditional scales and the relationship between them, is a glorious example in Canon that makes it a challenging symphony though from offset, sounds gentle and sacred.

Tremendously vibrant, it can be adapted by a choreographer for a Romantic excerpt inside a Classical ballet because of its short duration. Otherwise included in to Resurrection during Lent for veneration along with its versatility which is multi facted except for opera.Never mind the music or how passionate I am of Ascension. Just take Pachelbel and his style of music as the antithesis of a composer who never strived his best. So, the reverse 'christening' of Canon as the Ascension is a tribute to his memory.

Johann Pachelbel

Born in Germany (1653-1706) his main claim to fame was as an organist during his entire life. He was a composer who wrote dozens of chorales for organ and 95 fugues as interludes to the Magnificat. He is also known for non-liturgical toccatas, preludes, keyboard suites and several others.

The list of his motets is pretty long, may be because of Bach influence as a family friend. But he is fondly remembered as the pioneer of musical symbolism because using such devices in his sacred music as repeated notes, he illustrated the steadfastness in minor keys for sorrowful mood and major keys for joy and portrayed evil on a broken diminished seventh chord. That was the signature of Pachelbel.