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If you\u2019re going to have a series about great pieces of music, you might as well begin with The Greatest One.<\/span><\/p>\n German composer Johann Pachelbel\u2019s Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo<\/em> was composed sometime between 1680 and 1706.<\/span><\/p>\n Nothing can touch it today.<\/span><\/p>\n The circumstances for its creation are unknown, with several theories as to why and how it was composed; but it is impossible to verify any of them. The canon was first published in 1919, without the accompanying gigue, and for many years before and after, it remained in obscurity.<\/span><\/p>\n But in 1968, the Jean-Francois Paillard chamber orchestra revived it, slowing the tempo and adding obligato parts written by Paillard. This led to the Greek rock band Aphrodite\u2019s Child<\/em> releasing a baroque-rock version (\u201cRain and Tears\u201d) the same year.<\/span><\/p>\n This began a steady increase in the canon\u2019s popularity, and it has been used in numerous films and TV shows. George Winston\u2019s \u201cVariations on the Kanon\u201d was part of his solo album December<\/em>, which has sold more than three million units.<\/span><\/p>\n Those who knock this work as a boring, eight-note fluke, and Pachelbel as a one-hit wonder, are sadly mistaken.<\/span><\/p>\n It is brilliant, for reasons I can\u2019t begin to explain. That\u2019s up to those who are much more versed in music theory.<\/span><\/p>\n I have probably two dozen versions of this work, and I\u2019ll share a few.<\/span><\/p>\n This one started the revival:<\/span><\/p>\n