View source for Round (music)

{{short description|Song where multiple voices enter with the same melody at different times}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=May 2022}} 
[[File:Up and Down This World Goes Round Matthew Locke three voice round.png|thumb|"Up and Down This World Goes Round", three voice round by [[Matthew Locke (composer)|Matthew Locke]]{{sfn|MacDonald|Jaeger|2006|p=15}} {{audio|Up and Down This World Goes Round Matthew Locke three voice round.mid|Play}}]]

A '''round''' (also called a '''perpetual canon''' [''canon perpetuus''],  '''round about''' or '''infinite canon''') is a [[musical composition]], a limited type of [[Canon (music)#Simple|canon]], in which multiple [[part (music)|voices]] sing exactly the same [[melody]], but with each voice [[imitation (music)|beginning at different times]] so that different parts of the melody coincide in the different voices, but nevertheless fit [[harmony|harmoniously]] together.{{sfn|Johnson|2001}} It is one of the easiest forms of [[part song|part singing]], as only one line of melody need be learned by all singers, and is part of a popular musical tradition. They were particularly favoured in [[glee (music)|glee]] clubs, which combined amateur singing with regular drinking.{{sfn|Aldrich|1989|loc=Introductory essay, 8–22, especially at p. 21: "Catch-singing is unthinkable without a supply of liquor to hand..."}} The earliest known rounds date from 12th-century Europe. One characteristic of rounds is that, "there is no fixed ending", in the sense that they may be repeated as many times as possible, although many do have "fixed" endings, often indicated by a [[fermata]].{{sfn|MacDonald|Jaeger|2006|p=15}}

"[[Row, Row, Row Your Boat]]" is a well-known children's round for four voices. Other well-known examples are "[[Frère Jacques]]", "[[Three Blind Mice]]", "[[Kookaburra (song)|Kookaburra]]", and, more recently, the [[outro (music)|outro]] of "[[God Only Knows]]" by [[The Beach Boys]].{{sfn|Hoffman|1997|p=40}}

A [[catch (music)|catch]] is a round in which a phrase that is not apparent in a single line of lyrics emerges when the lyrics are split between the different voices. Rounds that fall into the category of "perpetual canon" feature a melody whose end leads back to the beginning, allowing easy and immediate repetition. Often, "the final [[cadence]] is the same as the first measure".{{sfn|Walton|1974|p=141}}

==History==
[[File:Tod und Schlaf Haydn four voice round.png|thumb|upright=1.4|"Tod und Schlaf", a four-voice round by [[Joseph Haydn]]{{sfn||Norden|1970|p=195}} {{audio|Tod und Schlaf Haydn four voice round.mid|Play}}]]
The term "round" first appears in English in the early 16th century, though the form was found much earlier. In medieval England, they were called {{lang|la|rota}} or {{lang|la|[[rondellus]]}}. Later, an alternative term was "roundel" (e.g., David Melvill's manuscript ''Ane Buik off Roundells'', Aberdeen, 1612). Special types of rounds are the "catch" (a comic English form found from about 1580 to 1800), and a specialized use of the word "canon", in 17th- and 18th-century England designating rounds with religious texts.{{sfn|Johnson|2001}} The oldest surviving round in English is "[[Sumer is icumen in]]"{{sfn|Hoffman|1997|p=40}} {{audio|Sumer is icumen in (round).mid|Play}}, which is for four voices, plus two bass voices singing a [[Ostinato|ground]] (that is, a never-changing repeating part), also in canon. However, the earliest known rounds are two works with Latin texts found in the eleventh [[Serial (literature)|fascicle]] of the [[Notre-Dame school|Notre Dame]] manuscript [[Pluteo 29.1]]. They are "{{lang|la|Leto leta concio|italic=no}}"<ref>{{YouTube|title=Leto Leta Concio: Canon – Manuscrit de Florence|id=m8w2_4bCwf8}}</ref> (a two-voice round) and "{{lang|la|O quanto consilio|italic=no}}" (a four-voice round). The former dates from before 1180 and may be of German origin.{{sfn|Falck|1972|pp=43–45, 57}} The first published rounds in English were printed by [[Thomas Ravenscroft]] in 1609... "Three Blind Mice" appears in this collection, although in a somewhat different form from today's children's round:{{audio|Three Blind Mice.ogg|Play}}
{|
|{{poemquote|text=Three Blinde Mice,
three Blinde Mice,
Dame Iulian,
Dame Iulian,
The Miller and his merry olde Wife,
shee scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife.}}
|[[File:Three Blinde Mice three voice round Deuteromelia 13 (1609).png|upright=1.4|thumb| "Three Blinde Mice" (1609)<ref>[http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ravenscroft/songbook/three_blinde.html "Three Blind Mice"], ''Ravenscroft Songbook''</ref> {{audio|Three Blinde Mice three voice round Deuteromelia 13 (1609).mid|Play}}]]
|}

==Mechanics==
{{Blockquote|The canon, or rule, of a simple round is that each voice enters after a set interval of time, at the same pitch, using the same notes.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=371}}}}

[[File:Row your boat.svg|thumb|upright=2.0|"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"{{audio|Row Your Boat round.mid|Play round}}]]
Rounds work because after the melody is divided into equal-sized blocks of a few [[bar (music)|measures]] each, corresponding notes in each block either are the same, or are different notes in the same [[chord (music)|chord]]. This is easiest with one chord, as in "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".{{audio|Row, Row, Row Your Boat.ogg|Play melody}}

A new part can join the singing by starting at the beginning whenever another part reaches any asterisk in the above music. If one ignores the [[eighth note]]s that [[nonchord tone|pass]] between the main chords, every single note is in the [[tonic (music)|tonic]] triad—in this case, a C, E, or G.

Many rounds involve more than one chord, as in "Frère Jacques" {{audio|Frère Jacques.ogg|Play melody}}:
{{multiple image|align=center
|image1=Frère Jacques.svg|width1=400
|image2=Frère Jacques four voice round.png|width2=300
|footer="Frère Jacques", traditional four voice round {{audio|Frère Jacques.mid|Play round}}}}

The texture is simpler, but it uses a few more notes; this can perhaps be more easily seen if all four parts are run together into the same two measures:
{{Image frame|mode=no|align=center|content=
<score raw sound>
\header { tagline = ##f }

% LilyPond doesn't easily want to align 4 voices, some with different lengths.
% So we create a print score, using 2 voices with some chords, and a MIDI score of 4 voices.
global = { \key f \major \time 4/4 }
firstP  = \relative c'' { \global \repeat unfold 2 { \stemUp c8 d c bes a4 f } \bar "||" }
secondP = \relative c'' { \global \repeat unfold 2 { \stemDown <a f>4 <bes g c,>  <c f,>2 } }
thirdP  = \relative c'  { \global \repeat unfold 2 { \stemDown s2. f4 } }

first  = \relative c'  { \global \repeat unfold 2 { f4\fff g a f } }
second = \relative c'' { \global \repeat unfold 2 { a4 bes c2 } }
third  = \relative c'' { \global \repeat unfold 2 { c8 d c bes a4 f } }
fourth = \relative c'  { \global \repeat unfold 2 { f4\pppp c f2 } }

kords = \chordmode { \repeat unfold 2 { f4 c:7 f2 } }

\score {
  <<
    \new ChordNames { \kords }
    \new Staff << \firstP \\ \secondP \\ \thirdP >>
  >>
  \layout { }
}

% The MIDI part plays the 4 voices, but not the chords.
\score {
  <<
    \new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "trumpet" } \new Voice \first
    \new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "violin"  } \new Voice \second
    \new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "celesta" } \new Voice \third
    \new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "tuba"    } \new Voice \fourth
  >>
  \midi { \tempo 4=102 }
}
</score>
|caption=All four parts simultaneous: [[authentic cadence]]}}

The second [[beat (music)|beat]] of each measure does not sketch out a tonic triad, it outlines a [[dominant (music)|dominant]] seventh chord (or "V7 chord").
[[File:Viva, Viva la Musica Michel Praetorius three voice round.png|thumb|"Viva, Viva la Musica", three voice round by [[Michael Praetorius]] (1571–1621){{sfn|MacDonald|Jaeger|2006|p=8}} {{audio|Viva, Viva la Musica Michel Praetorius three voice round.mid|Play}}]]

==Classical==
Classical composers who turned their hand to the round format include [[Thomas Arne]], [[John Blow]], [[William Byrd]], [[Henry Purcell]], [[Moondog]] (Louis Hardin), [[Joseph Haydn]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven]], and [[Benjamin Britten]] (for example, "Old Joe Has Gone Fishing", sung by the villagers in the pub to keep the peace, at the end of act 1 of ''[[Peter Grimes]]'') .{{sfn|Howard|1969|p=15}} Examples by [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]] include the regular canons, variations 3 and 24 of the ''[[Goldberg Variations]]'', and the perpetual canons, canon 7 of ''[[The Musical Offering]]'' and "Canon a 2 Perpetuus" ([[BWV]] 1075).{{sfn|Smith|1996}} Several rounds are included amongst [[Arnold Schoenberg]]'s thirty-plus canons, which "within their natural limitations ... are brilliant pieces, containing too much of the composer's characteristically unexpected blend of seriousness, humour, vigour and tenderness to remain unperformed".{{sfn|Neighbour|1964|p=681}} [[Contemporary classical music|Contemporary classical]] composers, such as [[Abbie Betinis]], have also explored round-writing in the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abbie Betinis, Choral Works (selected) |url=https://www.abbiebetinis.com/works_choral.html |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=abbiebetinis.com}}</ref>

== Rounds in German ==
{{clear|left}}
[[File:Who Is Happy Is a King German four voice round.png|thumb|[[Froh zu sein bedarf es wenig]], traditional German round {{audio|FrohZuSeinBedarfEsWenig.ogg|Play}}]]
* [[Danket, danket dem Herrn]]
* [[Es tönen die Lieder]]
* [[Froh zu sein bedarf es wenig]]
* [[Lasst uns miteinander]]
* [[Viel Glück und viel Segen]]

==See also==
{{stack|{{Portal|Music|Classical music}}}}
* [[Pervading imitation]]
* [[Voice crossing]]
* [[Voice exchange]]

==References==
{{reflist|20em}}

===Sources ===
* {{cite book | last = Aldrich | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Aldrich | date = 1989 | title = The Aldrich Book of Catches | editor-last = Robinson | editor-first = B. W. | editor2-last = Hall | editor2-first = R. F. | location = London | publisher = Novello}}
* {{cite journal | last = Falck | first = Robert | date = 1972 | title = Rondellus, Canon, and Related Types before 1300 | journal = Journal of the American Musicological Society | volume = 25 | number = 1 (Spring) | pages = 38–57| doi = 10.2307/830299 | jstor = 830299 }}
* {{cite book | last = Hoffman | first = Miles | date = 1997 | title = The NPR Classical Music Companion: Terms and Concepts from A to Z | location = Boston | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | isbn = 978-0-61-861945-0}}.<!-- Reprinted as ''The NPR Classical Music Companion: An Essential Guide for Enlightened Listening'', Paw Prints binding, 2005. ISBN 978-1-43-529404-2 -->
* {{cite book | last = Howard | first = Patricia | date = 1969 | title = The Operas of Benjamin Britten; An Introduction | location = New York and Washington | publisher = Frederick A. Praeger}}
* {{cite Grove|last=Johnson|first=David|date=2001|title=Round|id=23960}}
* {{cite book | last1 = MacDonald | first1 = Margaret Read | last2 = Jaeger | first2 = Winifred | date = 2006 | title = The Round Book: Rounds Kids Love to Sing | location = Little Rock | publisher = August House | isbn = 978-0-87-483786-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Mead |first=Sarah |date=2007 |section=Renaissance Theory |title=A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music |edition=2nd |editor-last=Kite-Powell |editor-first=Jeffery |editor-link=Jeffery T. Kite-Powell |pages=343–373 |location=Bloomington |publisher=Early Music Institute [[Indiana University Press]] |isbn=978-0-253-34866-1}}
* {{cite journal | last = Neighbour | first = Oliver W. | date = 1964 | title = Schoenberg's Canon's | journal =[[The Musical Times]]| volume = 105 | number = 1459 (September) | pages = 680–81| doi = 10.2307/950274 | jstor = 950274 }}
* {{cite book | last = Norden | first = Hugo | date = 1970 | title = The Technique of Canon | publisher = Branden Books | isbn = 978-0-82-831839-6}}
* {{cite book | last = Smith |first=Timothy A. | date = 1996 |chapter-url = http://www2.nau.edu/tas3/canonanatomy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428014339/http://www2.nau.edu/tas3/canonanatomy.html |archive-date=2009-04-28 |chapter=Anatomy of a Canon |title=The Canons and Fugues of J. S. Bach |publisher=Northern Arizona University}}
* {{cite book | last = Walton | first = Charles W. | date = 1974 | title = Basic Forms in Music | location = New York | publisher = Alfred Publishing| isbn = 978-0-88-284010-9}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category inline|Rounds (music)}}

{{Counterpoint & polyphony}}

[[Category:Musical terminology]]
[[Category:Song forms]]
[[Category:Rounds (music)| ]]
[[Category:Canon (music)]]