A nice find! This opens up the piece a lot for me, makes some more space inside it. Loving it.
I finally found a performance of the original instrumentation for the Canon by Johann Pachelbel: three violins and a basso continuo. The basso continuo consists of chords over a bass line; chords can be played by harpsichord or lute, while the bass line is played by either ‘cello or bassoon - or organ can play either or both components.
As much as I like this piece, it’s because of this that for the longest time, I thought that “canon” was synonymous with “ostinato.” Indeed, the ostinato is the best-known aspect of this piece: the repeated melodic/harmonic pattern in the basso continuo. I started to get thrown off when I learned during my undergraduate studies that a canon is actually a polyphonic device consisting of the same melody in multiple voices starting at different times - in other words, it’s pretty much a round, one of the best-known examples of which is “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” This prompted me to read up on Pachelbel’s Canon and sure enough, the piece employs both ostinato and canon. The “canon” aspect is each violin playing the same melody, but entering at different times. When you watch a performance of the piece with the original instruments such as this one (or even a standard string quartet will do), you can see how the texture divides up in each violin entrance.
