Klarinet Archive - Posting 000287.txt from 2000/10

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] how long does a note last?
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 07:58:07 -0400

>
> I wonder to what extent this "speeding up" was the result of
> improved instruments that could articulate faster? Or did tempo
> markings slow down over the centuries?
>
My impression has been that most of the music that was written down in this
notation was choral music - mostly sacred for liturgical use. Intrumental
technique or construction shouldn't have had a major influence.

> My dictionary defines the original notes this way:
>
> Imperfect longa = 2 breves
> Perfect longa = 3 breves
> Imperfect larga = 2 longas
> (perfect or imperfect? it doesn't say)
> Perfect larga = 3 longas
> (the longest note, called a 'maxima')
>

Threes, as I remember from my music history classes a long time ago, were
considered perfect because they represented the Holy Trinity. In fact, our
modern "C" that we use for "Common Time" was actually a broken circle
signifying an imperfect meter (whose subdivisions also were imperfect). A
circle (which modern notation has dropped) was used to signify a triple
meter.

Karl Krelove

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org