- This article is about the musical use of the word "canon". For other uses, see canon (disambiguation).
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration (e. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or g. quarter rest, one measure, etc. ). The initial melody is called the leader, while the imitative melody is called the follower which is played in a different voice. The follower must be created from the leader by being either an exact replication of the rhythms and intervals of the leader, or a transformation such as those listed in "Types of canon" (below). Rhythm (from Greek ῥυθμός - rhythmos, "any measured flow or movement symmetry" is the variation of the length and accentuation of In Music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two Notes Intervals may be described as vertical Canons where all parts sing identical music and which repeat are called rounds, such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". A round is a musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody (and may continue repeating it indefinitely but with each voice beginning at different times " Row Row Row Your Boat " is an English Nursery rhyme, and a popular children's song/proverb often sung as a round.
Accompanied canon is a canon accompanied by one or more additional independent parts which do not take part in imitating the melody.
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History
The Old French canon, which meant 'learned', was taken from the Greek kanon for a rule or law, which eventually came to mean 'an accepted rule' in English, and the term was first used for the rule that describes how the voices relate to each other. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Not until the sixteenth century was canon used to describe the musical form. The term musical form refers to two related concepts the type of composition (for example a musical work can have the form of a Symphony, a The earliest known canons are the rounds (or rondellus) in England from the thirteenth century; the best known is Sumer Is Icumen In. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland In the fourteenth century many canons were written in Italy under the name caccia, and occasionally French chansons of that period used canon technique. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A chanson ( French for " Song " from Latin cantio) is in general any lyric -driven French songs usually Polyphonic During the period of the Franco-Flemish School (1430-1550), canon as a contrapuntal art form received its greatest development, while the Roman School gave it its most complete application. In Music, the Franco-Flemish School refers somewhat imprecisely to the style of polyphonic Vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th The Roman school is the education system of the Ancient Rome. In the later periods the canon played a less important role (as entertainment), with a few notable exceptions like Bach's The Musical Offering. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" The Musical Offering (German title Musikalisches Opfer or Das Musikalische Opfer) BWV 1079 is a collection of canons Arnold Schoenberg revived the interest in canon with his twelve-tone technique. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold
Types of canon
The most rigid and ingenious forms of canon are not strictly concerned with pattern but also with content. Canons are classified by various traits: the number of voices, the interval at which each successive voice is transposed in relation to the preceding voice, whether voices are inverse, retrograde, or retrograde-inverse; the temporal distance between each voice, whether the intervals of the second voice are exactly those of the original or if they are adjusted to fit the diatonic scale, and the tempo of successive voices. In Music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two Notes Intervals may be described as vertical In Music, a permutation of a set is a transformation of its Prime form by applying zero or more of certain operations, specifically This is a list of musical terms that are likely to be encountered in printed scores In Music theory, a diatonic scale (from the Greek διατονικος, meaning " through tones" also known as the heptatonia prima and However, canons may use more than one of the above methods.
How voices in a canon are named
Although, for clarity, this article uses leader and follower(s) to denote the leading voice in a canon and those that imitate it, musicological literature also uses the traditional Latin terms Dux and Comes for "leader" and "follower", respectively. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The terms "Proposta" for the leader, and "Riposta" for the follower, are also common terms.
Number of voices
A canon of two voices may be called a canon in two, similarly a canon of x voices would be called a canon in x. This terminology may be used in combination with a similar terminology for the interval between each voice, different from the terminology in the following paragraph.
Another standard designation is "Canon: Two in One", which means two voices in one canon. "Canon: Four in Two" means four voices with two simultaneous canons. While "Canon: Six in Three" means six voices with three simultaneous canons, and so on.
Simple
A simple canon (also known as a round) imitates the leader perfectly at the octave or unison. A round is a musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody (and may continue repeating it indefinitely but with each voice beginning at different times Well-known canons of this type include the famous children's song Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Frère Jacques. " Row Row Row Your Boat " is an English Nursery rhyme, and a popular children's song/proverb often sung as a round. " Frère Jacques " (in English sometimes called " Brother John " or pronounced ˈfrɛrəˌʒɑːkə) is a famous French nursery
Interval
An interval canon imitates the leader at any interval other than the octave or unison (e. In Music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two Notes Intervals may be described as vertical g. canon at the second, fifth, seventh, etc. ). If the follower imitates the precise interval quality of the leader, then it is called an exact canon; if the follower imitates the interval number (but not the quality), it is called a diatonic canon.
Contrapuntal derivations
The follower may be a contrapuntal derivation of the leader. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony
Inverse
An inverted canon (also called canon in contrary motion) moves the follower in contrary motion to the leader. In Music theory, contrary motion is the general movement of two melodic lines in opposite directions Where the leader would go down a fifth, the follower goes up, and vice versa. A sub-order of canon in contrary motion, "mirror," maintains the precise quality of each interval.
Retrograde
In a crab canon, also known as cancrizans, the follower accompanies the leader backward (in retrograde). A crab canon is an arrangement of two things that are complementary and backward similar to a Palindrome. A canon that is retrograde and inverse is called a Table Canon. A Table Canon is a Retrograde and Inverse Canon (music meant to be placed on a table in between two musicians who both read the same line of music in opposite A Table Canon would be placed on a table with a musician on either side, both reading the same line of music in opposite directions. A Table Canon is a Retrograde and Inverse Canon (music meant to be placed on a table in between two musicians who both read the same line of music in opposite
Mensuration and tempo canons
In a mensuration canon (also known as a prolation canon, or a proportional canon), the follower imitates the leader by some rhythmic proportion. In Music, a prolation canon or mensuration canon is a type of canon, a musical composition which employs a Melody with one or more imitations The follower may double the rhythmic values of the leader (augmentation or sloth canon) or it may cut the rhythmic proportions in half (diminution canon). Phasing involves the application of modulating rhythmic proportions according to a sliding scale. In the Compositional technique phasing, popularized by composer Steve Reich, the same part (a repetitive phrase is played on two Musical instruments in The cancrizans, and often the mensuration canon, take exception to the rule that the follower must start later than the leader.
Technically, mensuration canons are among the most difficult to write. Many such canons were composed during the Renaissance, particularly in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries; Johannes Ockeghem wrote an entire mass (the Missa Prolationum) in which each section is a mensuration canon, and all at different speeds and entry intervals. Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600 Johannes Ockeghem (also Jean de; surname Okeghem, Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, Ockegham; other variant spellings are also In the twentieth century, Conlon Nancarrow composed complex tempo or mensural canons, mostly for the player piano as they are extremely difficult to play; they have also influenced many younger composers. Conlon Nancarrow (born October 27 1912 &ndash August 10 1997) was a U The player piano is a self-playing Piano, containing a pneumatic mechanism that plays on the piano action pre-programmed Music via perforated paper rolls Larry Polansky has an album of mensuration canons, Four-Voice Canons. Larry Polansky (born 1954) is a Composer, Guitarist, Mandolinist and a professor at Dartmouth College.
Other types of canon
The most familiar of the canons might be the perpetual/infinite canon (in Latin: canon perpetuus) or round. As (each voice of) the canon arrives at its end it can begin again, in a Perpetuum mobile fashion; e. Perpetuum mobile ( Latin) moto perpetuo ( Italian) mouvement perpétuel ( French) literally meaning g. "Three Blind Mice". Such a canon is often called a round or rota. A rota is a type of vocal round of the 13th and 14th centuries probably only in England. Sumer is icumen in is one example of a piece designated rota.
Additional types include the spiral canon, accompanied canon, and double or triple canon.
Puzzle canon
A Puzzle canon can be any of the above types, but only one voice is notated, and it is up to the performer to find out which rule applies to the canon. Often some kind of riddle is given as a hint. Machaut's rondeau Ma fin est mon commencement et mon commencement est ma fin (My end is my beginning and my beginning is my end) is a crab canon with a third voice which is a musical palindrome. Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault (c 1300 – April 1377 was an important Medieval French Poet and Composer. A palindrome is a word phrase number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction (the adjustment of punctuation and spaces between words In the Agnus Dei movement of Dufay's mass L'homme armé is this rule noted: Cancer eat plenis et redeat medius ('Let the crab proceed full and return half'). Agnus Dei is a Latin term meaning Lamb of God, and was originally used to refer to Jesus Christ in his role of the perfect sacrificial Guillaume Dufay ( Du Fay, Du Fayt) ( August 5, 1397 ? &ndash November 27, 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer Mass is a fundamental concept in Physics, roughly corresponding to the Intuitive idea of how much Matter there is in an object This means that the cantus firmus must be sung first in full note values (and retrograde, since it is a crab), then in halved values and retrograde (that is, normal motion, since it is a crab). In Music, a cantus firmus ("fixed song" is a pre-existing Melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.
Mirror canon
In a Mirror Canon (or canon by contrary motion), the subsequent voice imitates the initial voice in inversion. In a Mirror Canon (or canon by contrary motion the subsequent voice imitates the initial voice in inversion They are not very common, though examples of mirror canons can be traced to Bach, Mozart (e. g. , the trio from Serenade for Wind Octet in C, K. 388), Webern, and other composers.
Table Canon
A Table Canon is a retrograde and inverse Canon meant to be placed on a table in between two musicians who both read the same line of music in opposite directions. A Table Canon is a Retrograde and Inverse Canon (music meant to be placed on a table in between two musicians who both read the same line of music in opposite Seeing that both parts are included in each single line, a second line is not needed. Bach wrote a few table canons. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" Table canons are novelty musical works and have never had much popularity with the general public.
Elaborate use of canon technique
- Josquin Desprez, Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales, Agnus Dei 2: One voice write with the words 'ex una voce tres' (three voice parts out of one), a mensuration canon in three voices in different tempos. Josquin des Prez (c 1450 to 1455 &ndash August 27 1521 often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.
- Josquin Desprez, Missa L'homme armé sexti toni, Agnus Dei 2: two simultaneous canons in the four upper voices, and at the same time a crab canon in the two lower voices.
Contemporary canons
The most popular canons heard today are from the Baroque period, such as Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D (Pachelbel's Canon), in which a canon between the three upper voices are accompanied by a repeating bass melody or ground, or every third variation in Bach's Goldberg Variations. Baroque art redirects here Please disambiguate such links to Baroque painting, Baroque sculpture, etc Pachelbel's Canon, also known as Canon in D major, or more formally Canon and Gigue in D major for three Violins and Basso Continuo The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 are a set of 30 variations for Harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach. The third movement of Gustav Mahler's First Symphony starts with an accompanied simple canon based on Frère Jacques, albeit in D Minor. The Symphony No 1 in D major is a Symphony by Gustav Mahler first composed between 1888 and 1894. " Frère Jacques " (in English sometimes called " Brother John " or pronounced ˈfrɛrəˌʒɑːkə) is a famous French nursery Jean Sibelius's Sixth Symphony contains many hidden canons: for instance, a 3-in-1 in the strings in which each part is thickened to a third; a 4-in-2; a canon by diminution; and a canon with augmentations at two different speeds. Jean Sibelius 's Symphony No 6 Opus 104 was completed in 1923. Diminution, from Italian diminuimento, is a musical term used to mean different things in the context of melodies and intervals or chords. What may be George Rochberg's best known work, his String Quartet No. George Rochberg, ( July 5, 1918, Paterson New Jersey &ndash May 29, 2005, Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania) was an American 6, includes a set of variations on the Pachelbel Canon in D. Henryk Górecki's Third Symphony begins with an extensive eight voice canon in the strings. Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (ˈxɛnrɨk mʲiˈkɔwaj guˈrɛ͡tski (born December 6 1933 in Czernica, Silesia, Poland) is a Polish Composer Symphony No 3 Op. 36, also known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs ( Symfonia pieśni żałosnych) is a Symphony in three Steve Reich uses a process he calls phasing which is a canon with variable distance between the voices. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3 In the Compositional technique phasing, popularized by composer Steve Reich, the same part (a repetitive phrase is played on two Musical instruments in
Media
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J S Bach: Canon per augmentationem contrario motu Image:J S Bach -- Canon per augmentationem contrario motu (dulcimer-piano-harp) (ornam).mid (Midi) - Problems playing the files? See media help.
Reading
- Canonic Studies: A New Technique in Composition. Bernhard Ziehn; edited and introduced by Ronald Stevenson. Publisher: New York : Crescendo Pub. , 1977. ISBN 0-87597-106-7.
- Lamla, Michael: Kanonkünste im barocken Italien, insbesondere in Rom, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89825-556-5.
See also
External links
- Anatomy of a Canon
- The Musical Offering --A Musical Pedagogical Workshop by J.S. Bach, or, The Musical Geometry of Bach's Puzzle Canons
- Electro-Acoustic Music Dartmouth.edu: Larry Polansky's Four Voice Canons
- Watch three animated vignettes inspired by the canon
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