Johann Pachelbel was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era.
St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg, which played an important role in Pachelbel's life
Predigerkirche, the Erfurt church, where Pachelbel worked for 12 years, starting in 1678
Pachelbel's letter
Pachelbel's tomb at the St. Rochus Cemetery in Nuremberg
In music, a chorale prelude or chorale setting is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein, along with multiple other works of the type in other collections.
Title page of Scheidt's Tabulatura Nova
The only known painting of Buxtehude (detail, Johannes Voorhout, 1674)