This page features the sheet music lead sheet (melody & chords) for Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.” The melody is in standard notation with the chords as chord symbols above the staff.

Canon in D

Pachelbel originally scored “Cannon in D” for 3 violins and a basso continuo sometime between 1680 and 1706.

Sheet Music

This lead sheet arrangement of “Canon in D” with chords (as chord symbols) is not the complete score but the main themes. I kept the melody to the essential elements of the piece using the original score for 3 violins and basso continuo. It can also be used as a guide for improvising over the harmonic changes (the chords).

For your convenience, it’s in a 2-page format to avoid having to turn the page during a performance.

The complete lead sheet for this arrangement of “Cannon in D” is two pages long and available for download as a PDF.

Download “Canon in D” Sheet Music (2 Pages) as a PDF.

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Origin of “Cannon in D”

In 1985, Han-Joachim Schulze writes that “Cannon in D” may have been composed for Johann Christoph Bach wedding on October 23, 1694. Johann Christoph Bach was Johann Sebastian Bach’s elder brother. Pachelbel would have attended this wedding.

For more information about the history of “Canon in D” see the Wikipedia article on the subject here.

More Sheet Music

List of Lead Sheets

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