How do you pronounce 'Pachelbel'?

This might seem like a ludicrous or laughable question, but 'Pack-el-Bell' (to rhyme with "Tackle-Bell") must surely be incorrect. This seems the most common English pronunciation, and is indeed what I've always said, but it doesn't sound remotely German.

like Bach with a "P", so.. PACH - el - BELL

So I take it you pronounce it with a soft h, like the Scottish 'loch'?

Well, um. I'd say it's Pa-hell-bell, but the H in "hell" is strong and pronounced. Like the typical German "ch" sound which I can't find an example for in english. So, yeah, Pach would be pronounced like "Bach." Not "Pac" or any C/K sounding noise, no.

The CH is pronounced like in the German word fach.

(yes, not helpful, I know.)

I think there's a general tendency in the US to pronounce "ch" as "ck", so they say "Back" and "Packelbel". But then again there's an incredible injustice done to many names of French, German/Austrian and Greek composers by English speakers.

CH in German is a guttural throat sound... kind of like a cat's hiss. It's "pah-chkchckhk-ehl-bell".

its pack- a- bell with a british accent on the pack

To make things absolutely clear, Pachelbel is pronounced as: [joˈhan ˈpaxɛlbl̩], [ˈpaxl̩bɛl], or [paˈxɛlbl̩]

And here's how to interpret the IPA: Help:IPA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:P

"Pok-uh-bell"

To make things absolutely clear, Pachelbel is pronounced as: [joˈhan ˈpaxɛlbl̩], [ˈpaxl̩bɛl], or [paˈxɛlbl̩]

I think the third variant, with stress on the second syllable, is the most common in German. Note that there's been some debate about this on the talk page of the Wikipedia article jujimufu took those transcriptions from, but it appears that all these three variants are supported by some publication that I'm not familiar with. AFAIK what is here written as [l̩] (a syllabic [l]) is often notated [əl], which might be easier to wrap your mind around... if someone with better knowledge of German phonology can comment on this, I'd appreciate to know if it really is [l̩] or [əl] (and one or the other is shorthand/simplification), or if they both exist in speech...

Also, doesn't ['jo:han] (as opposed to [jo'han]) occur as well, or is that just my Swedish bias?

"Pok-eh-mon"

Also, doesn't ['jo:han] (as opposed to [jo'han]) occur as well, or is that just my Swedish bias?

Yeah, ['jo:han] is the normal German pronunciation. I've personally never even heard [jo'han].

And I agree that [paˈxɛlbl̩] sounds like the most common way you'd pronounce the name in German without knowing anything about it (and I pronounce it exactly like that). I don't know which one is correct of course.

As for [l] versus [əl]: If you speak especially slowly and clearly, you might say [əl], but when speaking normally, you generally omit the [ə].

To restate everyone else:

P as in "pizzicato"

A as in "arco"

Ch as in "Bach"

E as in "stringendo"

L as in "allegro"

NOTE: Some people say it and it sounds like this: Pashelbel

That sounds kind of wierd, I prefer PaCHelbel

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Edited October 4, 201510 yr by Ken320