Johann Pachelbel attended the university for just over a year

Pachelbel's early musical instruction was more informal than it was formal. Johann Hans Pachelbel, a wine salesman, and Anne Maria Mair welcomed Pachelbel into the world in Nuremberg in the fall of 1653. Pachelbel showed a keen interest in studying from an early age. Pachelbel had two music tutors in addition to his usual schooling: George Kaspar Wecker taught him how to write music and how to play the organ, and Heinrich Schwemmer taught him about the foundations and rules of music. To study music, he enrolled at the University of Altdorf in 1669.

Pachelbel's decision to leave school after just a year due to his middle-class family's inability to support him financially is an intriguing fact. Pachelbel's studies at the Gymnasium Poeticum in Regensburg were allowed to be completed the following year due to his extraordinary talent and in-depth knowledge of organ music. Johann the young man did well in his studies. He was hired as the assistant organist at the famed St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, in 1673, when he was twenty years old. This turned out to be just the start of a successful organ career.