i need some help...

hi guys,

i need some help from somebody that knows how to write an "enigmatic canon" or at least where to find detailed informations on how to write one, since i looked over the net, but all what i found are definitions of it but not HOW TO WRITE IT.

i know how to write a canon, but a riddle canon is something different... so if someone could help me, i'd be really happy :toothygrin:

thanks for your time :D

As far as I know an "enigmatic canon" only means that only one of the parts are notated. The simplest example is the children's round "Fr

The "riddle" or "enigmatic" part is all about the presentation. Any canon notated in a condensed manner is a riddle canon--and a riddle canon written out in score ceases to be a riddle canon. Despite what it sounds like, the term doesn't even necessarily imply an intention to be tricky or enigmatic. Granted, I would think that Bach may well have intended just that much of the time, but in many cases the only reason is that writing out a bunch of more or less identical parts would just be stupid.

In the most simple kind of canon--at the unison, without diminution or augmentation or other gimmicks--Mattheus's example is about as enigmatic as it can get. The riddle is figuring out what the asterisks mean...

When you involve more intricate canonic relationships, it gets more interesting. Bach's Musical Offering is a good starting place for getting an idea of what you can do--among the more common devices: multiple clefs at the start of the system imply transposed followers (a tenor clef and an alto clef implies a canon at the third); a backwards clef at the end of the system implies retrograde; an upside-down clef (and key signature if applicable) implies inversion. It's also very common to include a verbal riddle of some sort (usually in Latin, back in the day), to hint at certain aspects of the realization of the canon. Bach does this to suggest augmentation ("as the notes grow, so may the fortunes of the King grow"), for example. And this is just Bach. If we go further back, I seem to recall some of the Flemish guys, for instance, did some crazy stuff. I lack insight. If someone has any idea what I might be talking about, I'd like to be reminded.