Canon (music)
A melody begins in one voice, then another enters to copy it exactly after a set delay. This initial line is called the leader or dux. The copying voice follows as the follower or comes. The follower must match the leader's rhythms and intervals, sometimes with slight adjustments. When all voices sing the same song starting at different times, the result is a round. Singers might begin two bars apart on "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". Such rounds appear in children's songs like "Frère Jacques". An accompanied canon adds independent parts that do not imitate the main melody. These extra lines provide harmony without following the strict rules of imitation.
The earliest known non-religious canons are English rounds from around 1250. One famous example is "Sumer is icumen in", which appears in a manuscript source calling it a rota. Walter Odington gave this form the name rondellus at the beginning of the 14th century. The word round first appeared in English sources during the 16th century. Italian composers wrote pieces like "Tosto che l'alba" by Gherardello da Firenze. French music featured hunting songs called chace, later spelled chasse. A well-known French chace is the anonymous piece "Se je chant mains". Richard Taruskin describes its middle section as a riot of hockets mixing bird-language and hound-language. Guillaume de Machaut used three-voice chace forms in his 1361 masterpiece Le Lai de la Fontaine. Jacob de Senleches composed La harpe de melodie with two canonic voices over a free tenor line. Dufay's song Resvelons nous amoureux places the lower two voices in canon while the upper part remains florid.
J.S. Bach and Handel both incorporated canons into their major works. Handel's keyboard Chaconne in G major features a final variation where the right hand imitates itself one beat apart. This creates rhythmic ambiguity within triple time. Haydn wrote a Minuet for String Quartet in D Minor Op. 76 No. 2 that functions as a strict classical canon. The piece demonstrates superbly logical fulfillment of octave doubling between string sections. Beethoven employed canonic passages throughout his symphonies and sonatas. His Symphony No. 4 contains a delightfully naïve canonic passage in the first movement. A more sophisticated example appears in the second movement of Piano Sonata 28 in A major Op. 101. The most dramatic use occurs in Fidelio during the first act quartet. Four characters sing simultaneously in canon, each delivering a quatrain to different words. Antony Hopkins calls this a sublime musical wonder accompanied by delicate orchestration. The rigid form allows character differentiation while sinking private thoughts into linear anonymity.
Schumann hid canonic devices subtly in his 1851 piano piece Vogel als Prophet from Waldszenen. Nicholas Cook notes the canon is absorbed into the texture so listeners do not easily hear it. Brahms composed an Intermezzo in F minor Op. 118 No. 4 rich in canons where the left hand shadows the right at one beat distance. Michael Musgrave describes the result as anxious and suppressed until the central section eases tension through chordal canonic treatment. Denis Matthews observes that what looks like an intellectual exercise produces a warmly melodic effect in practice. Stravinsky wrote canons including Canon on a Russian Popular Tune and Double Canon. Conlon Nancarrow created complex mensuration canons for player piano machines. Anton Webern employed five canons for soprano clarinet and bass clarinet in his Op. 16 work. Steve Reich developed phasing techniques in Piano Phase 1967 and Clapping Music 1972. These works rely on variable time intervals rather than melodic or harmonic elements. Olivier Messiaen used rhythmic canons in Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine with independent pitch strands.
A simple canon imitates perfectly at octave or unison levels. A strict canon matches precise interval quality while free canon adjusts intervals to fit diatonic scales. Inversion canons move followers in contrary motion to leaders. Retrograde or crab canons accompany leaders backward using retrograde motion. Mensuration canons alter rhythmic proportions by doubling values or cutting them in half. Phasing applies modulating rhythmic proportions according to sliding scales. Perpetual or infinite canons allow voices to restart upon reaching their end. Table canons place music between two musicians reading opposite directions from the same line. Bach composed several table canons including examples in The Musical Offering. Puzzle canons present only one voice with clues requiring solutions to determine remaining parts. Mozart solved Father Martini's puzzles before composing riddles K. 73r using Latin epigrams. Double canons unfold two different themes simultaneously as seen in Bach's Cantata BWV 9. Mirror canons invert subsequent voices relative to initial ones found in works by Mozart and Webern. Rhythmic canons transfer mode of limited transposition from pitch domain to time domain.
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Common questions
What is a canon in music and how does it function?
A canon is a musical composition technique where a melody begins in one voice called the leader or dux, then another voice enters to copy it exactly after a set delay. The copying voice follows as the follower or comes and must match the leader's rhythms and intervals with sometimes slight adjustments.
When did the earliest known non-religious canons appear and what were they called?
The earliest known non-religious canons are English rounds from around 1250 including the famous example Sumer is icumen in which appears in a manuscript source calling it a rota. Walter Odington gave this form the name rondellus at the beginning of the 14th century while the word round first appeared in English sources during the 16th century.
How did J.S. Bach use canons in his major works and compositions?
J.S. Bach incorporated canons into his major works by composing several table canons including examples in The Musical Offering and creating double canons that unfold two different themes simultaneously as seen in Bach's Cantata BWV 9. He also composed puzzle canons presenting only one voice with clues requiring solutions to determine remaining parts such as riddles K. 73r using Latin epigrams.
What specific types of canons exist beyond simple imitation and how do they work?
Specific types include inversion canons that move followers in contrary motion to leaders, retrograde or crab canons that accompany leaders backward using retrograde motion, and mensuration canons that alter rhythmic proportions by doubling values or cutting them in half. Other forms include phasing which applies modulating rhythmic proportions according to sliding scales, perpetual or infinite canons allowing voices to restart upon reaching their end, and table canons placing music between two musicians reading opposite directions from the same line.
Which composers created notable canonic pieces in the 18th and 19th centuries and what were their characteristics?
Haydn wrote a Minuet for String Quartet in D Minor Op. 76 No. 2 that functions as a strict classical canon while Beethoven employed canonic passages throughout his symphonies including a delightfully naïve canonic passage in the first movement of Symphony No. 4. Schumann hid canonic devices subtly in his 1851 piano piece Vogel als Prophet from Waldszenen where the canon is absorbed into the texture so listeners do not easily hear it.