It contains the most common, repetitive bass line (the low bum, bum, bum, bum at the beginning) from the 17th century, according to Ms. Clark. “Although this piece is famous,” she said, “there are so many pieces built on the same underlying harmonic structure, at the time called a Romanesca as a pattern.”

“Pachelbel Rant” by the comedian Rob Paravonian, and “4 Chords” by the comedy band Axis of Awesome, highlight dozens of recognizable songs with the same foundation as Canon in D — including music by Lady Gaga, Bob Marley, John Lennon, U2, the Spice Girls and Green Day. (“Punk music is a joke; it’s really just baroque,” Mr. Paravonian said in the performance.)

“The way it’s set up is that there’s a repeated pattern that happens in the bass line — you hear that, initially, by itself without the violins, and that unit is repeated 28 times in the whole piece — and then you hear the violins come in one after another,” Ms. Clark said. “The reason it’s called a canon is because of what the three violins do in the upper voices: they play in a round.” (Just as you’d hear in “Three Blind Mice” or “Frère Jacques.”)

The resulting piece, alternating between fast and slow notes, two- and four-measure units, major and minor chords, is filled with complex harmonies that sound straightforward and simple. As with a lot of music in the baroque period, Ms. Clark said, once that range was established, the score could be amenable to many other instruments. Pachelbel’s Canon was originally written for three violins, she explained, but it can easily be arranged for a string quartet or the organ, keyboard and synthesizers, all creating a different sound depending on the occasion.

“Musically, it just happens to be a piece that you can do pretty easily in almost any configuration you have,” said Mr. Fehleisen, who has played hundreds of New York weddings since the 1970s. “You can do a million things with it.”

It’s also perfectly paced for walking down the aisle, Ms. Clark said, “and it feels timeless because there’s no text. You’re not guided to one single way of thinking about the piece, so it becomes meaningful for every individual or pair.”