Pachelbel's Canon is a complex work which merges several distinct forms of music. The canon is a polyphonic form in which several voices play the same music, only enter one by one, each after a delay. In Pachelbel's piece, there are three voices engaged in canon
can·on [kan-uhn] –noun
2. the body of ecclesiastical law3. the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art
7. any officially recognized set of sacred books
13. consistent, note-for-note imitation of one melodic line by another, in which the second line starts after the first.