Ligatures and coloration in late renaissance music David van Ooijen 6/2003

Ligatures
Any note tail on the right Long
upward Semibreve
second note also Semibreve
tail leIt
downward Breve
Ialls Long
First note
no tail
rises Breve
iI Iirst note has a leIt upward tail, then the second note is a Semibreve Middle note
all other middle notes Breve
descending Long
tail Long
square
(not oblique)
ascending
no tail Breve
in two-note ligature, iI Iirst note has a leIt upward tail Semibreve
Final note
oblique
all other oblique notes Breve
(Apel, Willi. Die Notation der polvphonen Musik 900-1600. BreitkopI 1970; Donnington, Robert. The interpretation of earlv music. Faber and Faber New edition 1989; Morley, Thomas. A plain & easv introduction to practical
music (London, 1597). Edited by Alec Harman. The Norton Library 1973.
Note values

Coloration A black note loses one third
oI its value and is always imperIect.



A partially colored note consist
oI two notes, each note halI the
value oI the
whole note.
The second
note is
colored.