Canon In D
Leonard Slatkin Leonard Slatkin Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra & St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Lyrics

The lyrics "Hostias et preces, tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus: tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus: fac eas, Domine, de morte Iransire ad vitam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus," are from the Latin liturgy for the dead. The words are a prayerful offering of "sacrifices and prayers" to God and a request that he receive them for the souls of those who have died on this day. The prayer asks that God lead the departed from death to the promise of eternal life, originally given to Abraham and his descendants.

This prayer was set to music by Johann Pachelbel in his most famous work, the Canon in D. The piece dates back to the 17th century and continues to be a timeless classic in the classical canon. The Canon is a unique musical composition, developed using a repeating melody that's layered upon itself to create a complex web of sound. The piece begins with a simple, yet beautiful theme that is repeated and built upon until it reaches a climactic end. Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra capture the beauty of Pachelbel's work and imbue it with their own interpretation.