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2.8.3 Typesetting mensural music
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Mensural contexts
The predefined MensuralVoice
and MensuralStaff
contexts can be used to engrave a piece in mensural style. These
contexts initialize all relevant context properties and grob
properties to proper values, so you can immediately go ahead
entering the chant, as the following excerpt demonstrates:
\score { << \new MensuralVoice = "discantus" \transpose c c' { \override Score.BarNumber #'transparent = ##t { c'1\melisma bes a g\melismaEnd f\breve \[ f1\melisma a c'\breve d'\melismaEnd \] c'\longa c'\breve\melisma a1 g1\melismaEnd fis\longa^\signumcongruentiae } } \new Lyrics \lyricsto "discantus" { San -- ctus, San -- ctus, San -- ctus } >> }
See also
TODO: nothing here yet ...
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Mensural clefs
The following table shows all mensural clefs that are supported via
the \clef
command. Some of the clefs use the same glyph,
but differ only with respect to the line they are printed on. In
such cases, a trailing number in the name is used to enumerate
these clefs, numbered from the lowest to the highest line. Still,
you can manually force a clef glyph to be typeset on an arbitrary
line, as described in Clef. The note printed to the right
side of each clef in the example column denotes the c'
with
respect to that clef.
Petrucci used C clefs with differently balanced left-side vertical beams, depending on which staff line it is printed.
Description | Supported Clefs | Example |
mensural C clef |
| |
mensural F clef |
| |
mensural G clef |
| |
neomensural C clef |
| |
petrucci style C clefs, for use on different staff lines (the example shows the 2nd staff line C clef) |
| |
petrucci style F clef |
| |
petrucci style G clef |
|
See also
Notation Reference: see Clef.
Known issues and warnings
The mensural g clef is mapped to the Petrucci g clef.
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Mensural time signatures
There is limited support for mensuration signs (which are similar to, but
not exactly the same as time signatures). The glyphs are hard-wired to
particular time fractions. In other words, to get a particular mensuration
sign with the \time n/m
command, n
and m
have to be
chosen according to the following table
Use the style
property of grob
TimeSignature
to select ancient time signatures. Supported styles are
neomensural
and mensural
. The above table uses the
neomensural
style. The following examples show the
differences in style:
See also
Notation Reference: Time signature, gives a general introduction to the use of time signatures.
Known issues and warnings
Ratios of note durations do not change with the time signature. For example, the ratio of 1 breve = 3 semibreves (tempus perfectum) must be made by hand, by setting
breveTP = #(ly:make-duration -1 0 3 2) … { c\breveTP f1 }
This sets breveTP
to 3/2 times 2 = 3 times a whole note.
The mensural68alt
and neomensural68alt
symbols
(alternate symbols for 6/8) are not addressable with \time
.
Use \markup {\musicglyph #"timesig.mensural68alt" }
instead.
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Mensural note heads
For ancient notation, a note head style other than the default
style
may be chosen. This is accomplished by setting the style
property of
the
NoteHead object to baroque
, neomensural
,
mensural
or petrucci
.
The baroque
style differs from the default
style by:
- Providing a
maxima
notehead, and - Using a square shape for
\breve
note heads.
The neomensural
, mensural
, and petrucci
styles differ from
the baroque
style by:
- Using rhomboidal heads for semibreves and all smaller durations, and
- Centering the stems on the note heads.
The following example demonstrates the petrucci
style:
\set Score.skipBars = ##t \autoBeamOff \override NoteHead #'style = #'petrucci a'\maxima a'\longa a'\breve a'1 a'2 a'4 a'8 a'16 a'
See also
Note head styles gives an overview of all available note head styles.
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[ < Mensural note heads ] | [ Up : Typesetting mensural music ] | [ Mensural rests > ] |
Mensural flags
Use the flag-style
property of grob
Stem to
select ancient flags. Besides the default
flag style,
only the mensural
style is supported.
\override Stem #'flag-style = #'mensural \override Stem #'thickness = #1.0 \override NoteHead #'style = #'mensural \autoBeamOff c'8 d'8 e'8 f'8 c'16 d'16 e'16 f'16 c'32 d'32 e'32 f'32 s8 c''8 d''8 e''8 f''8 c''16 d''16 e''16 f''16 c''32 d''32 e''32 f''32
Note that the innermost flare of each mensural flag always is vertically aligned with a staff line.
There is no particular flag style for neo-mensural or Petrucci notation. There are no flags in Gregorian chant notation.
See also
TODO: nothing here yet ...
Known issues and warnings
The attachment of ancient flags to stems is slightly off.
Vertically aligning each flag with a staff line assumes that stems always end either exactly on or exactly in the middle between two staff lines. This may not always be true when using advanced layout features of classical notation (which however are typically out of scope for mensural notation).
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Mensural rests
Use the style
property of grob
Rest to select
ancient rests. Supported styles are classical
,
neomensural
, and mensural
. classical
differs
from the default
style only in that the quarter rest looks
like a horizontally mirrored 8th rest. The mensural
and
the neomensural
styles mimic the appearance of rests in
manuscripts and prints up to the 16th century.
The following example demonstrates the mensural
and
neomensural
styles:
\set Score.skipBars = ##t \override Rest #'style = #'classical r\longa^"classical" r\breve r1 r2 r4 r8 r16 s \break \override Rest #'style = #'mensural r\longa^"mensural" r\breve r1 r2 r4 r8 r16 s \break \override Rest #'style = #'neomensural r\longa^"neomensural" r\breve r1 r2 r4 r8 r16
There are no 32th and 64th rests specifically for the mensural or neo-mensural style. Instead, the rests from the default style will be taken.
See Ancient notation for a chart of all rests.
See also
Notation Reference: Rests, gives a general introduction into the use of rests.
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Mensural accidentals and key signatures
The mensural
style provides a sharp and a flat sign
different from the default style. If called for, the natural sign
will be taken from the vaticana
style.
The style for accidentals and key signatures is controlled by the
glyph-name-alist
property of the grobs
Accidental and
KeySignature, respectively; e.g.:
\override Staff.Accidental #'glyph-name-alist =
#alteration-mensural-glyph-name-alist
See also
Notation Reference: Pitches, Accidentals, and Automatic accidentals give a general introduction of the use of accidentals. Key signature gives a general introduction of the use of key signatures.
Internals Reference: KeySignature.
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Annotational accidentals (musica ficta)
In European music from before about 1600, singers were expected to chromatically alter notes at their own initiative according to certain rules. This is called musica ficta. In modern transcriptions, these accidentals are usually printed over the note.
Support for such suggested accidentals is included, and can be
switched on by setting suggestAccidentals
to true.
fis gis \set suggestAccidentals = ##t ais bis
This will treat every subsequent accidental as musica
ficta until it is unset with \set suggestAccidentals =
##f
. A more practical way is to use \once \set
suggestAccidentals = ##t
, which can even be defined as a
convenient shorthand:
ficta = { \once \set suggestAccidentals = ##t } \score { \relative c'' \new MensuralVoice { \once \set suggestAccidentals = ##t bes4 a2 g2 \ficta fis8 \ficta e! fis2 g1 } }
See also
Internals Reference: Accidental_engraver engraver and the AccidentalSuggestion object.
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White mensural ligatures
There is limited support for white mensural ligatures.
To engrave white mensural ligatures, in the layout block, replace the Ligature_bracket_engraver with the Mensural_ligature_engraver in the Voice context:
\layout { \context { \Voice \remove Ligature_bracket_engraver \consists Mensural_ligature_engraver } }
There is no additional input language to describe the shape of a white mensural ligature. The shape is rather determined solely from the pitch and duration of the enclosed notes. While this approach may take a new user a while to get accustomed to, it has the great advantage that the full musical information of the ligature is known internally. This is not only required for correct MIDI output, but also allows for automatic transcription of the ligatures.
For example,
\score { \transpose c c' { \set Score.timing = ##f \set Score.defaultBarType = "empty" \override NoteHead #'style = #'neomensural \override Staff.TimeSignature #'style = #'neomensural \clef "petrucci-g" \[ c'\maxima g \] \[ d\longa c\breve f e d \] \[ c'\maxima d'\longa \] \[ e'1 a g\breve \] } \layout { \context { \Voice \remove Ligature_bracket_engraver \consists Mensural_ligature_engraver } } }
Without replacing Ligature_bracket_engraver with Mensural_ligature_engraver, the same music transcribes to the following
See also
TODO: nothing here yet ...
Known issues and warnings
Horizontal spacing of ligatures is poor.
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