enigmatical canon
Noun: A type of musical composition, specifically a canon (a contrapuntal composition where a melody is imitated by one or more voices after a time delay), in which the instructions for when and how the successive voices should enter are written using cryptic symbols, puzzles, or visual devices instead of standard musical notation. This form was particularly popular during the 15th and 16th centuries.
The term is used in historical musicology to describe a specific, intellectually challenging genre of Renaissance music. - The musicologist specialized in deciphering enigmatical canons from the Franco-Flemish school. - This page from the 16th-century manuscript contains an enigmatical canon, its solution revealed by the image of a labyrinth.
- As a historical concept: The enigmatical canon represents the intersection of music, visual art, and intellectual puzzle-solving in the Renaissance. Solving it was often seen as a demonstration of the performer's or composer's skill and wit.
- In modern performance: Today, musicians and scholars must "solve" or "realize" the canon to perform it, interpreting the cryptic clues to determine the correct timing, pitch, and sometimes even the notes themselves.
- Canon (n): The broader musical form. An enigmatical canon is a subtype of a canon.
- Puzzle canon (n): A near-synonymous term.
- Riddle canon (n): Another common synonym for enigmatical canon.
- Mensuration canon (n): A related, specific type of canon where voices sing the same melody at different speeds, often indicated by proportional signs, which can be enigmatical.
- Riddle canon
- Puzzle canon
While there are no direct idioms, the concept is metaphorically related to the phrase "to read between the lines," as solving an enigmatical canon requires interpreting hidden or symbolic meaning.
- a canon in which the entrances of successive parts were indicated by cryptic symbols and devices (popular in the 15th and 16th centuries)