In this appealing 14-minute work for string orchestra, the term "Canzona" is used in its broadest possible sense as a "song for instruments". As the simplest of starting-points then, the chamber orchestra is viewed as a collection of "singing" instruments presented either in melody or in complex counterpoint. In 1986, Canzona was choreographed for the Australian Ballet Company by Jacqui Carroll, at which point Vine added the Prologue as a 'curtain-raiser'.