Canon

The same melody, staggered in time

The word “canon” comes via Latin from Greek, where it means “measuring rod, guideline, rule”. It suits the thing: the first voice sets the rule, and all the others follow it. The word has two musical meanings: a song in which two or more voices enter one after another at a fixed distance with the melody, so that a part-song results, and a piece of music whose theme is worked out contrapuntally in all the voices in turn.

Usually the voices are identical and only enter at different times. They then follow the same melody at the same pitch or at the octave, as in the notation example below; but there are also canons in which the further voices follow at the distance of a third, fourth or fifth. The following voice can also present the first in a fixed transformation instead of repeating it exactly.

How to read a canon

The song canons in the sheet music archive are notated with only one voice, the melody. Where the next voice begins there is a numeral, a circled number above the notes. So you read the melody once and work out the distance between the entries in bars: in “Bruder Jakob” there are two bars between the entries, in “C-a-f-f-e-e” four.

The marked cells show the distance between the entries: two bars in “Bruder Jakob”, four in “C-a-f-f-e-e”. Pachelbel’s canon is a different case: it is written for three violins over a figured bass (basso continuo), but the archive sheet shows only one voice. If you want to see the entries of the others, you need the score.

Canons in the sheet music archive

Song canons

• Bruder Jakob Folk song · melody with chord symbols · 1 page

  Under the title is “Kanon für vier Stimmen” (canon for four voices). Four circled numerals are above the melody: 1 above bar 1, 2 above bar 3, 3 above bar 5 and 4 above bar 7. The piece has eight bars in 4/4 with one ♭, so each voice enters two bars after the previous one.

• C-a-f-f-e-e Carl Gottlieb Hering (1766–1853) · melody with chord symbols · 1 page

  Under the title is “Kanon für drei Stimmen” (canon for three voices). Circled numerals are above bars 1, 5 and 9; the piece has twelve bars in 3/4 with one ♭. A fermata is above the last note of bars 4, 8 and 12.

Instrumental canon

• Kanon D-Dur Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) · violin · 1 page

  The title says “Canon per 3 Violini e Basso continuo”, but the sheet contains only the part “Violine” (4/4, two sharps). The first eight bars contain only half notes with slurs. How the other two violins enter cannot be seen on this sheet.

Distinctions

A canon that could be repeated more or less endlessly is called a round (German Ringkanon). In such canons all voices are musically the same, and each group begins the same song a little later than the one before. “Bruder Jakob” in the archive enters at a distance of two bars, “C-a-f-f-e-e” at four. Whether the sheets are meant to be repeated in a circle is not stated on them. Not every canon is such a song: Pachelbel’s canon is a through-composed canon of three violins over a basso continuo ostinato.

Common mistakes

• Entering too early or too late: The distance is measured in bars, not in words or notes. Count the bars from the numeral.
• Reading the canon like a one-voice song: The line shows only one voice, but from the second entry on several sound at once. Keep to your own line even when the other voices are sounding.
• Assuming the distance is fixed: It is not the same in every canon. “Bruder Jakob” enters at a distance of two bars, “C-a-f-f-e-e” at a distance of four.