Origin and publication: Written probably between 18 December 1818 and 8 April 1820 in Vienna. The first edition appeared posthumously in 1957 in the literal edition by Donald W. MacArdle and Ludwig Misch, but a facsimile of the autograph transcription had already appeared in 1928 in the auction catalogue of Karl Ernst Henrici. The target of the joke is probably the magistrate of the city of Vienna, for whom Beethoven had little affection, since they sided with the mother, Johanna van Beethoven, in the dispute over the guardianship of his nephew Karl. However, Max Unger also considers the possibility that the Canon may have been a „harmloser Scherz über einen Magistratsrat“, therefore about Mathias Tuscher (c. 1775–1860), co-guardian of Beethoven’s nephew Karl from the end of March to the beginning of June 1819.

If one assumes that the intended recipient was the municipal authority of the city of Vienna, the two dates mentioned constitute the approximate time frame of the composition. On 18 December 1818, the legal dispute over the guardianship of Beethoven’s nephew Karl was transferred from provincial law to the Viennese magistrate (when it was discovered that Beethoven did not possess a patent of nobility, the official responsibilities changed). On 8 April 1820 the court of appeal finally ruled in Beethoven’s favour. In his auction catalogue 127, Karl Ernst Henrici called the autograph score (source 1.2) „Eigh. Kanon“. However, there are no clues in the vocal part that would indicate a Canon as intended. According to Max Unger, the piece is „ein lustiger Kanon für vier Männerstimmen und Begleitung von Streichbässen (Kontrabaß oder Violoncell oder von beiden)“. This is also stated in KH, and Rudolf Klein accordingly provides a solution as a canon for four bass voices. Willy Hess, on the other hand, considers a two-part resolution „ganz natürlich“. In the same catalogue, Henrici also describes the piece as a „musikalische[r] Ulk in Form eines Duos für 2 Bässe“.