Round (music)

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 or . 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. The oldest surviving round in English is "Sumer is icumen in" , which is for four voices, plus two bass voices singing a 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 fascicle of the Notre Dame manuscript Pluteo 29.1. They are "" (a two-voice round) and "" (a four-voice round). The former dates from before 1180 and may be of German origin. 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: ==Mechanics==

Rounds work because after the melody is divided into equal-sized blocks of a few measures each, corresponding notes in each block either are the same, or are different notes in the same chord. This is easiest with one chord, as in "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". 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 notes that pass between the main chords, every single note is in the tonic triad—in this case, a C, E, or G. Many rounds involve more than one chord, as in "Frère Jacques" : {{multiple image|align=center 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= \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 4 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 { > >> \layout { } } % The MIDI part plays the 4 voices, but not the chords. \score { > \midi { \tempo 4=102 } } The second beat of each measure does not sketch out a tonic triad, it outlines a dominant seventh chord (or "V7 chord"). (1571–1621) ==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) . Examples by 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). 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". Contemporary classical composers, such as Abbie Betinis, have also explored round-writing in the 21st century. == Rounds in German ==

", traditional German round • "Danket, danket dem Herrn" • "Es tönen die Lieder" • "Froh zu sein bedarf es wenig" • "Lasst uns miteinander" • "Viel Glück und viel Segen" ==See also==