This work was a result of a practical joke by Eero Hämeenniemi and Magnus Lindberg who spent a summer day in Siena, Italy by composing together a solo violin work. The composers, joined with Esa-Pekka Salonen who was also present, sent the work to the composing competition of the Sibelius Violin Competition in 1979 under the name of an imaginary person, Juhani Pursiainen, for whom they created a fancy identity in their creative sessions. Canzona received the third prize in the competition.