A student writes a beautiful melody and uses it as the dux of a two-voice canon, having the comes enter four beats later playing the exact same line. What problem are they likely to encounter?
AThe comes will be too loud relative to the dux
BThe moments where both voices sound simultaneously may produce unintended dissonances
CA four-beat interval is too long for imitation to be recognizable as a canon
DThe interval of imitation must always be an octave, not a unison
In a canon, the melody must be designed so that its beginning harmonizes with its middle and its middle harmonizes with its ending — wherever the dux and comes overlap, the combination must be consonant. A melody crafted purely for solo appeal carries no such guarantee; the canon constraint requires the melody to serve simultaneously as both melody and its own accompaniment. Choosing a beautiful but unconstrained melody and then adding delayed imitation is likely to produce voice-leading errors at the overlap points.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
What does 'invertible counterpoint' mean in fugue writing, and why must a composer plan for it from the very beginning?
AThe subject can be played in retrograde (backwards) without losing its harmonic character
BThe subject and countersubject can swap registers so that whichever is on top, the voice-leading between them remains valid
CThe fugue can be transposed to any key without altering the subject
DThe answer always enters in the dominant, which inverts the tonal relationship with the subject
Invertible counterpoint means the subject and countersubject are designed so that when one moves to the upper register and the other to the lower, the harmonic intervals between them remain acceptable. When voices invert, intervals transform: a sixth becomes a third, and critically, a fifth becomes a fourth — which was a dissonance in Renaissance practice. A subject chosen without this in mind may create unresolvable voice-leading problems the moment the composer attempts to invert the pair, which is why the design must be simultaneous, not sequential.
Question 3 True / False
In a strict canon at the octave, the follower voice plays the exact same pitches and rhythms as the leader, beginning at a later time.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: True
This is precisely what defines a strict canon: the dux (leader) presents a melody, and after a fixed time interval the comes (follower) replicates it exactly — same pitches, same rhythms, just offset in time. The word 'canon' means 'rule,' and the rule is exact imitation. Other canons may imitate at a fifth, a third, or another interval (transposing the pitch content), but they still replicate the rhythm and relative pitch intervals exactly.
Question 4 True / False
A fugue subject can be any melodically distinctive idea; a skilled composer can typically write a suitable countersubject for it afterward.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
The subject and countersubject must be conceived as an integrated system with invertible counterpoint in mind from the start. A subject chosen purely for melodic character may generate counterpoint problems that cannot be resolved when inversion is required later — the intervals between them may become dissonant in the swapped register. Fugue composition requires long-range thinking: the subject's design constrains and is constrained by the countersubject's design, and both must satisfy invertibility as a joint requirement.
Question 5 Short Answer
Why is it insufficient to simply write a good melody and add a delayed imitation to create a canon? What specific compositional requirement must the melody satisfy?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: The melody must be its own counterpoint: at every point where the leading voice (dux) and following voice (comes) sound simultaneously, the combination must form consonant, voice-leading-valid harmonies. This requires that the melody's opening bars harmonize with its middle bars (which the comes will be playing at the same moment) and its middle bars harmonize with its final bars. A melody crafted in isolation carries no such guarantee and is likely to produce parallel fifths, unresolved dissonances, or other errors wherever the two voices overlap.
This is the fundamental compositional discipline of canon: the composer must hear the melody simultaneously in two temporal positions while writing it, designing a single line that works both as melody and as accompaniment to itself. The constraint is total — no segment of the melody is 'free' from the obligation to harmonize with its own displaced echo.