Catch

A catch or trick canon is a type of round - a musical composition in which two or more voices (usually at least three) repeatedly sing the same melody or sometimes slightly different melodies, beginning at different times. In a catch, the lines of lyrics interact so that a word or phrase is produced that does not appear if sung by only one voice. This phrase is often innuendo-laden, politically subversive, or lewd.

In the score for a catch the different voices are usually labelled, "1", "2", "3", etc. This indicates that voice "1" sings its part first. When the part has been completed it is typically repeated and voice "2" joins in and so on. After they have sung to the end of their parts, voice "3" joins in. Sometimes there may be variations in the words or music to be sung to each part, the second or third time it is sung. A common mistake in performance is for all parts to start together.

Noted composers of catches were Henry Purcell (A catch upon the viol [1]), Michael Wise (A catch upon the midnight cats [2], performed live here) and John Wall Callcott. Callcott's best known catch Sir John Hawkins' History of Music [3] ridiculed Sir John Hawkins' work by comparison with a similar work by Charles Burney. An example of a particularly lewd catch is My man John [4] by John Eccles.

One of the most prolific of modern composers of catches is Donald Sosin, who has written dozens of them for special occasions and a variety of vocal groups since learning the craft from his composition professor Dennis Riley at Columbia University in 1974.

Catches exhibit the property of synergy, whereby the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (and also fairly unpredictable from examination of the parts alone).

Example: [5]

We took off our ugly clothes

And put on our tails again

We combed our hair

We're beautiful to look at

We feel immense joy

To be in your city

Of course we'll tell you who we are

We could never forgive the omission.