In a volume of Michael Haller's Eucharistic hymns entitled Laudes Eucharistica, Op. 16,(1878) I've found a number of very lovely SATB pieces which are not difficult and might be of interest to someone. There don't seem to be any recordings available, but the scores are attached. They are Romantic in style, of which era I'm not a huge fan, but I find Haller's work exceptionally fresh, simple and charming nonetheless.
Here's a question: I don't understand what the two vertical dots mean in the second measure below taken from the second page of Haller's O quam suavis est. (The time signature is alla breve.) Any advice on that?
It's borrowed from earlier mensuralist practice: it means the same as a dotted half or a half tied to a quarter. I admit it is confusing - which is probably why this practice has been, for the most part, abandoned.
JulieColl I have never seen this before either. Per Salieri's description the 1/2 note on "di" would be held for 1-1/2 beats taking it into the next bar as if it were tied to a quarter note. This would complete measure two, right now its missing the first downbeat.
In earlier times, this was an often seen practice (especially in handwritten and, consequently, numerous engraved scores), of putting the dot on the downbeat of the following measure. It is more often seen with Mensurstrich barring (bars between the staves but not on the staves). Also, rarer, but sometimes seen, an undotted note such as a breve or semibreve will be seen which has half of its note value at the end of one measure and the other half in the following measure; in these modern times, such a note would be represented by two notes tied together across the bar.
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