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5.16.10 Ligatures

A ligature is a graphical symbol that represents at least two distinct notes. Ligatures originally appeared in the manuscripts of Gregorian chant notation to denote ascending or descending sequences of notes.

Ligatures are entered by enclosing them in \[ and \]. Some ligature styles may need additional input syntax specific for this particular type of ligature. By default, the LigatureBracket (lilypond-internals) engraver just puts a square bracket above the ligature

     \transpose c c' {
       \[ g c a f d' \]
       a g f
       \[ e f a g \]
     }

[image of music]

To select a specific style of ligatures, a proper ligature engraver has to be added to the Voice (lilypond-internals) context, as explained in the following subsections. Only white mensural ligatures are supported with certain limitations.

Bugs

Ligatures need special spacing that has not yet been implemented. As a result, there is too much space between ligatures most of the time, and line breaking often is unsatisfactory. Also, lyrics do not correctly align with ligatures.

Accidentals must not be printed within a ligature, but instead need to be collected and printed in front of it.

Augmentum dots within ligatures are not handled correctly.

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