Thank you Mathias - this is the word I was looking for :-) All the best Jaroslaw
-----Original Message----- From: "Mathias Rösel" [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 10:10 PM To: David Rastall Cc: lute Subject: [LUTE] Re: Playing in time >> Was Proportio sesquialtera (3/2) already mentioned? > Would that be like the two bar passage in Dowland's > "Fancy" numbered 5 in Poulton where in bars 26 and 27 > the meter changes from common time to 12/8 and there > is a marking that calls for the quarter note to > become a dotted quarter (when it goes back into > common time starting at bar 28, the quarter note once > again gets the beat)? Not exactly, but the effect is very similar. Sesquialtera literally means one and a half. Proportio sesquialtera is the name of that case when there is a change from tempus perfectum (a brevis is divided into three) to tempus imperfectum (a brevis is divided into two) and vice versa, with the pulse of the brevis continuing to be the same. The usual sign for this is 3/2 which in terms of maths equals one and a half (sesquialtera). It was common usage until, say, 1600. -- Mathias To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
