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Canon a 3 in C-sharp minor "Domine, Quo Vadis?"


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A three-voice canon at the unison (except for the tenor, which starts an octave lower than the upper voices) with text from the Vulgate as placeholder lyrics. The bass constitutes its own independent line. Specifically, for the text I took the versicles from the Book of John where the famous "Quo vadis?" is uttered by St. Peter before denying Jesus three times.

 

YouTube video link: 

 

Edited by Fugax Contrapunctus
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Fantastic.
It is addictive, since it is very short, to listen to it over and over again.
I think that leaving the bass independent is a very valid technique and provides a base.
What I would suggest is that in measures 6, 7 and 8 the soprano and alto voices do not cross, since it can be done the other way around, keeping its logic.

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Posted (edited)
On 8/22/2024 at 4:14 PM, Luis Hernández said:

What I would suggest is that in measures 6, 7 and 8 the soprano and alto voices do not cross, since it can be done the other way around, keeping its logic.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the theme, the bicinium comprised by the upper voices is bound to include voice crossings, even if we inverted the voices, which I didn't consider the optimal solution due to the respective tessiture of the soprano and alto.

Neither this issue nor inverting the voice ranges would really be a problem at all if this were an instrumental canon, as the soprano would have no problem being transposed an octave (thus making it a strict canon at the octave instead of this half-transposed unison) upwards if it were played by, say, a violin. Naturally such a transposition would exceed the limits of a comfortable vocal range for most sopranos, so I ultimately chose to tolerate these momentary voice crossings, as in the end, each voice returns to its due course.

On 8/22/2024 at 4:14 PM, Luis Hernández said:

I think that leaving the bass independent is a very valid technique and provides a base.

Interestingly, composing an accompanied canon with an independent bass was not originally on the table, as I kept going bach and forth (pun fully intended) between smashing my head against the wall with an attempted strict 4-part canon and the outcome I got instead. In the end, through trial and error I ended up realizing that the former could not provide for full chords most of the time and eventually decided against it in order to keep the harmony as enriched as possible.

Edited by Fugax Contrapunctus
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Posted (edited)
On 8/24/2024 at 10:00 AM, Luis Hernández said:

I think I understand that this crossover is due to the requirements of the text, is that so? [...]

Admittedly, I may not have explained myself clearly enough. The canonic theme/melody as it currently stands necessitates said voice crossings if imitated at the unison. It has nothing to do with the text.

Edited by Fugax Contrapunctus
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  • 1 month later...

Hey @Fugax Contrapunctus!

I like this piece!  Correct me if I am wrong, but ignoring the independent bass voice, this is actually more of a round than a canon.  The tenor starts, followed by the soprano and then, the alto.  The imitation is carried all the way to the end for the last voice, the alto with the other three voices modified to reach a satisfactory conclusion.  If I understand it correctly, it might be both a canon and a round?  From what I remember, a round has a modular imitative structure which is why I started to think that this was a round.  Thanks for sharing this enjoyable short imitative piece!

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