During the summer many people hitch themselves to each other in what earthlings call a wedding. As a musician, this is a saving grace for our dogged, unemployed days when all of the classical organizations are usually on summer break and all of the positions teaching, or performing at festivals are taken by the same elite set of players. Of all the weddings I’ve played at, I cannot think of one where I haven’t played Pachelbel’s Canon. If the lay-listener was to sit near the musicians before playing they’d likely be able to hear the incredible amount of disdain we have for the work. Why? We could start by asking the cellist, basso or continuo player, where their part consists entirely of of playing D-A-B-F#-G-D-A in half notes for several minutes. Alternately, you could ask all the players and the simplistic part, the lack of conflict (hopefully these marriages turn out like the piece) and boring harmonies could be what they cite (along with having to play it 21389238 times a year) as what kills the piece in their minds.
The harmonic progression, which is a sequence of falling fourths and perhaps the most common sequence in western music, goes, I-V-VI-III-IV-I-IV-V-I, and it doesn’t change once. While most composers use this sequence as a means to change key, or move to another section (like Bach would in an episode of a fugue) they often did it in far more interesting ways. Take the last movement of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony (~50 seconds in), where there are extended sections of this very same harmonic sequence arrayed with suspensions and all sorts of interesting textural machinations. This is in direct contrast with Pachelbel’s Canon, which might have an appoggiatura somewhere. If you are planning on having a wedding, put this on your processional, please, but if you hear some musicians groan, please understand.