Laura Conrad wrote:
>
> The fact that (the last I looked)
> abcm2ps doesn't support breves and longas (when abctab2ps and abc2ly
> do) means I'm not really following abcm2ps development very closely.
>
Every now and then, Laura raises the issue of breves and longae in abc.
I would like to make my own understanding of these terms clearer.
AFAFIK, these terms do not apply to classical music notation but to
mensural notation, which is currently not supported by abc at all.
On the other hand it would be of not too much use, because worldwide
only a handful of people can read it.
When transcribing medieval or early Renaissance music, the note values
need to be matched to modern time values. The common practice is:
brevis -> a) half note or b) quarter note
longa -> a) whole note or b) half note
maxima -> a) double note or b) whole note
These matches are for "imperfect time" C|; for "perfect time" 3
the translation is different. (The famous "missa prolationem" by
Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) makes ingenious use of these different
interpretations: all voices share the same notation, but with
different time signatures which results in one of the most
complicated canons ever written!).
If I understand Laura right, she uses method a) and thus needs
"double notes", which she calls "brevis". These are currently
supported by abctab2ps and drawn as something like:
/|
|O| |
music tablature
Now my questions to Laura are:
What do you mean with "longa"?
Presumably a "quadruple note" which would be a kind of
"maximissima" (does this exist??) in mensural notation.
Presumably a "quadruple note" would occur only on final notes.
In most modern edition it is printed as a double note with a
fermata. Is that not sufficient?
What would the music symbol be for a "quadruple note" in
music and in tablature? Is it at all readable?
Christoph Dalitz
To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
