Played by James Ching
Canons 1, 2, 3 and 4
Canons of the Church used to (perhaps, still do) live by strict rule. So do Canons in music.
The rule in a Canon is that whatever tune is led off by one part must be strictly imitated all through by the other voices taking part.
The four Canons included in Bach's Art of Fugue (with which, continuing from last Saturday, we now proceed) are in two voices only.
The first takes our basic theme and fills in some of the intervals, making a strongly-stepping tune, well varied rhythmically.
After four bars the other voice enters, singing the tune upside down, and in notes of twice the length. The two voices then go their ways, the one necessarily getting further and further behind the other, but pegging away quite happily and surely. In the middle, for fairness, the Bass gets what the upper part had before, and goes gaily off, the Treble having to be content to tread more soberly. So the curious couple (Mr. Bultitude and Dick from 'Vice Versa,' if you will) arrive in good order at their journey's end.
The Second Canon is very frisky. Here the Bass is satisfied to copy the Treble, four bars behind and an octave below. The theme is a varied (filled-up) version of the inverted basic tune.
In the Third Canon the rhythm of the original tune (but upside down) is oddly disguised by a syncopation, so that one would not at first realise that there are four beats in a bar. Soon this is made clear, as the second voice enters. It is, and throughout remains, ten notes higher than the first voice, and in shape
'goes up where the first went down, whilst the first voice goes on in a rippling rhythm of three-notes-to-a-beat. It gets still livelier later,'fitting in as many as twenty-four notes to a bar, in quick time. A few bars in slow time round off the Canon.
The last of the Canons also keeps the General shape of the basic tune, but fills up its intervals. Note the two rhythms in the theme-that of three-to-a-beat (in the opening bar) and that of two-to-a-beat.