Chapter 13: Canons+

Canon

• list of composers and works assigned value and greatness by consensus

• can be spread by notation, oral transmission and memory

• a type of polyphonic composition (one musical line imitates another at a fixed distance)

• from ancient greek term meaning measure of excellence

• not static, are evervhangieng

• Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven benefited from canon

  • Music of Bach, central to canon today

• concept of canon began in the late 18 cent

  • as public concerts and emerging tradition of music grew, music criticism created the term “genuis”, meaning the work was worthy of repeated hearings