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''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a musical meter notated by the
''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a musical meter notated by the time signature
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...
symbol (a C with a vertical line through it), which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
for "on the breve", originally meaning that the beat was counted on the breve
A breve (, less often , neuter form of the Latin "short, brief") is the diacritic mark ˘, shaped like the bottom half of a circle. As used in Ancient Greek, it is also called , . It resembles the caron (the wedge or in Czech, in S ...
.
''Alla breve'' is a "simple
Simple or SIMPLE may refer to:
*Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple
Arts and entertainment
* ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track
* "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018
* "Simple", a song by Johnn ...
-duple meter
Duple metre (or Am. duple meter, also known as duple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 2 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 2 and multiples (simple) or 6 and multiples (compound) in the upper figure of the tim ...
with a half-note pulse
In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the n ...
".Duckworth, William (2009). ''A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals'', p. 38. . The note denomination that represents one beat is the minim or half-note. There are two of these per bar, so that the time signature may be interpreted as "two minim beats per bar". Alternatively this is read as two beats per measure, where the half note gets the beat.
The name "common time" refers to , which has four beats to the bar, each of a quarter note
A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem ...
(or crotchet).
Modern usage
In contemporary use, ''alla breve'' suggests a fairly quicktempo
In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
. Thus, it is used frequently for military marches
In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...
. From about 1600 to 1900, its meaning with regard to tempo varied, so it cannot always be taken to mean a quick tempo.Randel (2003), p. 33 Using ''alla breve'' helps the musician read notes of short duration more cleanly with fewer beats.
Historical usage
Prior to 1600 the term ''alla breve'' derives from the system of mensural or proportional notation (also called ''proportio dupla'') in which note values (and their graphical shapes) were related by the ratio 2:1. In this context it means that the ''tactus'' or metrical pulse (now commonly referred to as the " beat") is switched from its normal place on thewhole note
A whole note (American) or semibreve (British) in musical notation is a single note equivalent to or lasting as long as two half notes or four quarter notes. Description
The whole note or semibreve has a note head in the shape of a hollow o ...
(''semibreve'') to the double whole note
In music, a double whole note (American), breve, or double note lasts two times as long as a whole note (or ''semibreve''). It is the second-longest note value still in use in modern music notation. The longest notated note is the ''longa'', w ...
(''breve'').
Early music notation was developed by religious orders, which has resulted in some religious associations in notation. The most obvious is that music in triple time was called ''tempus perfectum'', deriving its name from the Holy Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
and represented by the "perfect" circle, which has no beginning or end.
Music in duple time was similarly called ''tempus imperfectum''. Its symbol was the broken circle, ', which is still usedalthough it has evolved to mean , or "common time", today. When cut through by a vertical line "" , it means "cut common", or alla breve.
The use of the vertical line or stroke in a musical graphical symbol, as practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and now referred to by the modern term of "cut time", did not always have the same meaning as ''alla breve''. It sometimes had other functions, including non-mensural ones."Cut time" in Sadie (2001).
Example
The following is an example with the same rhythm notated in and in :Notes
Sources
* Randel, Don Michael (2003). ''Harvard dictionary of music'', fourth edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. . * Sadie, Stanley; John Tyrrell, eds. (2001). ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 2nd edition. New York: Grove's Dictionaries. . * Novello, John (1986). The Contemporary Keyboardist, Hal Leonard Corporation, {{ISBN, 0-634-01091-3. Musical notation Patterns Rhythm and meter