Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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734 SUBJECT SUBJECT
these constantly-reeurring Subjects are founded
upon progressions which, more than any others,
suggest new Counter-subjeots in infinite variety.
VI. The Subject of Canon differs from that
of Fugue, in that it is continuous. The Subject
is as long as the Canon itself. Henoe it is called
the Guida or Guide ; each note in the leading
part directing those that are to be sung by all
the other voices in turn. Subjects of this kind
mil be found in vol. iii. pp. 77-8, 385a, 388-9,
and other places ; and many more may be seen
in the pages of Burney and Hawkins. Examples
of the method of fitting these Subjects together
will be found in vol. i. pp. 455J, and in vol. iii.
pp. 77-8. The number of passages that can be
together in Canon is so limited, that
made to fit
the same notes have been used over and over
again by writers of all ages. A remarkable
instance of this is afforded by Nou ' nobis.' We
have seen how many composers have chosen this
as a Fugal Subject ; and an account of it, with
some solutions in Canon not generally known,
will be found at vol. iii. p. 388J. It must not,
however, be supposed that the older composers
alone were able to produce fine Canons. Haydu
thoroughly understood the art of writing them
[see vol. ii. p. 3076] ; and so graceful are
Mozart's that their Subjects might very easily be
mistaken for those of an ordinary part-song.'
VII. Closelyallied to the Subjectof theCanon
is that of the Rota ' ' or Round. In this, and
in its oomio analogue the Catch, the Guida is
followed by every voice in turn ; for which reason
the composition was formerly written on a single
stave. It will be found so written in a facsimile
of the oldest example we possess, in the article
SuMER IS lOiTMEN IN ; and it ia virtually so
written even at the present day ; though, in
modern copies, the Guida is doubled back, so to
speak, each time a new voice enters, so as to
give the outwai-d appearance of a score. That
it is not really a score is evident, from the fact
that there is not a separate part for each voice ;
bat there is a substantial difference between
this and the Cauon, though the subject of both
is called a Guida. In the Canon, the Subject
forms the whole composition. In the Round,
it continues only until the entrance of the second
voice, the latter sections of the Guida representing
Counter -subjects only, and continuing to
furnish new Counter-subjects as often as new
voices enter.
It is remarkable that this, the oldest form of
secular part- writing in existence, should not
only have been invented in England, but should
still be more highly esteemed in England than
in any other country—for it is only in England
that the art of singing a round is practised with
success, and the success with which we practise
It dates from the time of the Plantagenets. ^
VIII. In turning from the learned complexi-
1 See a. Inrge collection of examples in Merrick's EngUeh Tianala.
tion of AlbraolltBberger, vol. ii. pp. 415-432.
^ See EouND ; SiiHBB is icumisn is.
ties of Fugue and Canon, to the simple Subject
of the Dance-tune, we are not, as might be supposed,
retracing our steps, but following the line
traced out for us by the natural development of
art. When instrumental music first began to
attract attention, the Fugue was regarded as the
embodiment of its highest expression. Lulli
ended his overtures with a Fugue ; biit as time
progressed this form of finale was superseded by
that of the Dance-tune. The most common
types were those of the Minuet, the Gavotte, the
Bourrte, the Courante, the Chaconne, the Sarabande,
the Giga, and the closely allied tunes of
the Allemande, the RitomeUo, the Air, and the
March. They originally consisted, for the most
part, of two short strains, the firsf of which
stated the Subject, while the second developed
it according to its means. It was de riguewr
that the Minuet should be written in triple time,
and that each phrase of its Subject should beginwith
the down-beat of the bar—though, in later
times, most Minuets began with the third beat
that the Gavotte should be in Alia breve time,
beginning at the half- bar ; that the Bourrde
should be in common time, beginning on the
fourth beat ; that the Allemande should be in
common, and the Giga in compound common
time, each beginning, as a general rule, with a
single short note ; and so with the rest. It was
indispensable that the first strain, representing
the Subject, should be complete in itself, though
it did not always end in the key in which it
began. The development of the Subject in the
second strain usually consisted in the prolongation
of the melody by means of phrases, which,
in the finer examples, were directly derived from
itself : sometimes carrying a characteristic figure
through two or more closely-related keys ; sometimes
returning, after this process, to the initial
strain, and thus completing the symmetiy
of the movement in accordance with principles
of the deepest artistic significance. The most
highly-developed forms were those of the Courante
and Allemande. In these, the first strain,
if in the major mode, almost invariably modulated
to the dominant for the purpose of proceeding
to a formal close in that key ; if in the
minor mode, it proceeded, in like manner, to
the relative major. The second strain then
started with a tolerably exact reproduction of
the initial Subject in the new key, or some other
closely related to it ; and the reprise terminated
with the transposition to the original key of that
portion of the first strain which had first appeared
in the dominant or relative major. In
these forms the share of interest allotted to the
process of development was very small indeed,
compared with that absorbed by the Subject
itself ; insomuch that, in many very fine examples,
the entire movement consisted of little
more than a Subject artfully extended by the
articulation of two members of not very unequal
proportions.