Yes, some decades ago (i.e. when Apel was writing), it was common to
transcribe mensural music at a value reduction of 4:1 (i.e. 3/4 for
Circle); now, 3/2 is a more common transcription level, and most specialist
performers prefer to read either from original note values (if
transcribed), or from original notation, if the manuscript isn't filled
with errors like the examples I'm currently dealing with. I'm working on a
bigger project that may involve generating multiple versions in different
types of notation from the same source file; from that point of view, it
would be more convenient if the mensural sign was more closely attached to
the meaning. In the meantime, at least I can get the symbol, so thanks for
that!

Thanks for the point about the clefs! Now I know why it works.

On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Phil Holmes <m...@philholmes.net> wrote:

> My understanding is that the Mensural time signatures are simply mapped to
> a convenient, similar modern signature.  Thus what we now refer to a
> "common time" (4/4) maps to a broken circle, which it resembles.  Since
> there are no bar lines in mensural music, the actual time signature is
> pretty much irrelevant when setting music.  FWIW, Apel says that ancient
> "circle" time (tempus perfectum) maps to modern 3/4 time.
>
> Under 1.1.3, "Clef", the Notation Reference tells us that "Clef names
> containing non-alphabetic characters must be enclosed in quotes".
>
> --
> Phil Holmes
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: Frauke Jurgensen
> To: LilyPond User Group
> Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2015 12:45 PM
> Subject: Mensural notation: 2 questions
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
>
> I suspect I'm just being a bit thick...typesetting some mensural notation,
> and having an issue with the mensural signs/time sigs. It looks like the
> definitions of these in terms of modern time signatures are in half values;
> e.g., "Circle" maps on to 3/2, when it should map on to 3/1.
>
>
> My second issue is that lilypond initially couldn't seem to find any of
> the various mensural clefs that have a number on the end. I managed to make
> it work by enclosing the clef name in double quotes, but am not sure why
> that worked.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frauke
>
>
>
>
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