Duet with Lyrics Problem

[Deborah Lowrey]

Dear Lilypond,

  I'm doing one of the duets in the Magic Flute. They
are separate staffs (one soprano, the other bass) and
they each have sections with different lyrics (i.e.
one sings then one finished the sentence...). The
lyrics want to have one syllable per measure for both
staffs. I've used "\property Voice.automaticMelismata
= ##t" but it doesn't work that way. I've had no
problem with other music that has one voice. Any
suggestions on how to get this to work?

  Also, I'm trying to find a way that works so that I
can combine the violoncello with the contrabasso on
the same staff (since most are almost the same with a
few solo exceptions). I tried the tutorial
suggestions, looked at other's music who appear to
have done this in the past, but I get errors even when
trying to run ly2dvi on the other's works as well as
my own. Any suggestion?

Thanks for your help,

Deborah