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Scan 124
Harvard Dictionary Of Music(1950), 1950
18 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1CANCRIZANS
3Cancrizans [from L. cancer, crab]. In crab-wise motion; see *Retrograde.
5Canntaireachd. See under *Pibroch.
7Canon [Gr., law, rule]. (1) A polyphonic composition in which all the parts have the same melody throughout, although starting at different points. The canon is the strictest species of imitation. Accompanying is an example by Schubert
9(Piano Trio op. 100, Scherzo). It appears that in a canon the normal contrapuntal texture of horizontal (melodic) and vertical (harmonic) relationships is "reinforced" by diagonal threads which consistently connect the places of imitation [see *Texture]. It is this added dimension which accounts for the special artistic charm of the canon. Any phrase, heard now in the leading voice (dux, antecedent), will soon be heard in the following voice or voices (comes, consequent); in the meantime, however, the dux has proceeded to another motive which thus sounds against the first and which, in turn, will soon occur in its comes.
11I. Types. The following types of canon are commonly distinguished. (a) According to the temporal distance between the parts: canon of one, two, etc., measures; in earlier terminology: canon ad minimam, ad semibreve, ad brevem (or ad tempus), i.e., in the distance of a minim, etc. (b) According to the interval of imitation: canon in unison, of the fifth, fourth, etc.; earlier terms are: canon ad unisonum, ad hypodiapente (the comes begins at the lower fifth), ad hyperdiates-
13CANON
15saron (the comes begins at the higher fourth), etc. According to special devices: (c) canon by *augmentation or diminution (the comes has the melody in doubled or in halved values); (d) canon by *inversion (the comes has the inverted melody; also called per motu contrario); (e) retrograde canon or crab canon or canon cancrizans (the comes imitates the dux in retrograde motion; see *Retrograde); (f) canon al contrario riverso (the comes is the retrograde inversion of the dux; such a canon can be executed by reading the melody with the page turned upside down; see *Retrograde, Ex. 2); (g) group canon (the dux and, consequently, the comes consist of two—or more—parts each; a famous example of this type is Byrd's motet "Diliges Dominum"; most of the many-voiced canons of the 17th century—for 12, 16, or even 48 voices—belong to this group); (h) circle canon or perpetual canon (i.e., one which leads back to the beginning and which, therefore, may be repeated several times; most of the popular canons, called *rounds, belong to this type); (i) spiral canon or canon per tonos (here the melody ends one tone higher than it started; thus the canon must be played six times, first in C, then in D, in E, in F-sharp, etc.; an example is found in Bach's Musical Offering under the title: "Ascendente modulatione ascendet gloria regis," i.e., "May the glory of the king rise as the modulation ascends"). A canon is called mixed if parts are added (usually in the bass) which do not participate in the imitation (e.g., the canons in Bach's Goldberg Variations).
17II. History. In early music, the present-day type of canon occurs under names such as *rota or *rondellus (*round, e.g., the well-known *Sumer is icumen in of circa 1310), *caccia (14th century), and *fuga (16th century), while the term canon has a much wider significance, namely, that of any kind of inscription ("rule") giving a clue as to the intended execution of a composition which is purposely notated in an incomplete or obscure manner (riddle canon). Such canons appear first in the works of Guil-
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