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Re: Transposing choral score
From: |
David Wright |
Subject: |
Re: Transposing choral score |
Date: |
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 11:01:36 -0500 |
User-agent: |
Mutt/1.10.1 (2018-07-13) |
On Mon 21 Oct 2019 at 09:52:06 (+0100), Graham King wrote:
> On 21 Oct 2019, at 05:11, David Wright <address@hidden> wrote:
> > On Sun 20 Oct 2019 at 11:39:46 (-0700), timecurve wrote:
> >> I am trying to transpose the attached file (Palestrina's /Missa Gabriel
> >> archangelus/) down a tone (from F major/d minor to Eb major/c minor). I
> >> have
> >> looked through similar posts on this forum, and, being completely
> >> inexperienced with Lilypond, was not able to successfully follow their
> >> instructions. I would really appreciate your help with this!
> >
> > I added this string:
> >
> > \transpose f es
> >
> > after each occurrence of
> >
> > \score {
> >
> > with 14 occurrences in all. But be aware that apart from the incipits,
> > you put a line break between \score and {, making a global edit a bit
> > more difficult.
> >
> > Why does it work. In the body of the mass,
> >
> > \score { \transpose f es \new ChoirStaff … … }
> >
> > the transpose directive applies to the *single* item which follows it,
> > and that is the \new ChoirStaff, which contains all the music. So it
> > all gets transposed.
> >
> > In the incipits,
> >
> > incipitcantus = \markup { \score { \transpose f es
> > {
> > \set Staff.instrumentName = \markup { \fontsize #1 "Cantus (S)" }
> > \key f \major
> > \clef violin
> > s4 \bar ""
> > }
> >
> > the brace { on the second line encloses the several items following,
> > so the transpose directive applies to everything inside the braces,
> > which contains all the (blank) music. The braces make it all into
> > a *single* item as far as transpose is concerned.
> It's your choice of course, but there is no need to transpose incipits in
> renaissance music. In fact, it is positively unhelpful. An incipit with the
> first note in the original pitch tells the reader several things, including
> what transposition the editor has applied. In the case of Missa Gabriel
> archangelus, the presence of a C4 clef in the bassus and G2 in the cantus
> tells us that Palestrina wrote in "chiavi transportati" (chiavette) and that
> transposition, at sight, down a fourth (in this case) might have been
> expected. If the editor transposes the incipits, that expectation can be
> altered.
You're quite right, of course, and I would expect to see a stack of
rests (as appropriate) and the first note included in each one.
But in the example, transposing them was a teaching moment as it
nicely contrasts with the scores themselves. All my scores are
set very similarly:
#(set-global-staff-size 20)
\book {
\bookOutputSuffix "piano"
\score {
\transpose af ef
\new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff <<
except most of course have \transpose f f. Leaving my reply at that
wouldn't explain that the third argument of \transpose must be a
single item, meaning that braces have to be added where necessary.
OTOH adding braces (or << >>) everywhere, "just in case", gets
criticised on this list.
> Hoping that saves you a little effort :)
BTW if the OP moves to 2.19, there's an \incipit command which might
save even more.
Cheers,
David.