Robert Schumann’s Study in Canon No. 5 from his Opus 56 collection is a challenging movement to play and interpret. Whilst the music is quite vivid, the context is unclear in what is structurally a ternary form movement. The organ version has a playback tempo of 96 quarter note (crotchet) beats to the to the minute. The tempo direction in the score is to play the movement “Not too fast.” A canon arises in the description of a musical piece simply because musical ideas are imitated by another voice or instrument. It doesn’t necessarily describe the overall form or structure of a piece. The Study in Canon No. 5 is in three sections ABA’ with Section B beginning at bar 37 and the varied repeat of A at bar 83. The canonic element in Schumann’s time references all the musical elements and not just pitch: dynamics, articulation, ornamentation are all part of the canonic process. The crushed notes or acciaccaturas are a prominent musical feature. This is essentially a study in the articulation of short notes and occasional longer notes. Compositional process is evident from bar 49 where the canonic element involves inversion. There are some limitations regarding the range and choice of organ sounds in the realisation. Players should listen to performances on actual instruments available on streaming media.
