I came across this puzzle canon the other day. Take a look at the following melody and try to come up with the proper place and interval to begin the repeat so that it creates a canon with no “dissonant” intervals (no 2nds, 4ths, or 7ths) and no “incorrect” voice leadings (no parallel 5ths or octaves).
Here is a PDF version of this melody if you want to try to work it out a bit. One hint to help you is that the second voice doesn’t enter at the pitch E, but rather a diatonic (no accidentals) transposition starting on a different pitch. See if you can figure it out. My solution after the break.
Here’s my solution. I started it on the beginning of the 3rd measure at the interval of a 5th (and octave) lower. I found a couple of others that sort of worked but occasionally had dissonant intervals or objectionable parallel motion. Some of the more dissonant solutions had some interesting sounds, but wouldn’t be stylistic.
What did you find? Did you get a different solution or the same one?
