A rare contrapuntal exercise by Schubert, revealing his affinity for canonic writing. It is distinctive for its elegant, song-like melodies and the subtle, unfolding nature of its imitation.
Maintain a delicate balance between voices while allowing for natural Schubertian rubato.
Canon a trè (D.deest) is rated Henle level 6 of 9 — advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 7–8. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 8.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 6 — meaning you can already play level 5–6 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Canon a trè (D.deest) lasts about 5 minutes.
Canon a trè (D.deest) is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.