7.7.10 Ligatures

A ligature is a graphical symbol that represents at least two distinct notes. Ligatures originally appeared in the manuscripts of Gregorian chant notation to denote ascending or descending sequences of notes.

Ligatures are entered by enclosing them in \[ and \]. Some ligature styles may need additional input syntax specific for this particular type of ligature. By default, the LigatureBracket engraver just puts a square bracket above the ligature

     
     \transpose c c' {
       \[ g c a f d' \]
       a g f
       \[ e f a g \]
     }

To select a specific style of ligatures, a proper ligature engraver has to be added to the Voice context, as explained in the following subsections. Only white mensural ligatures are supported with certain limitations.

Bugs

Ligatures need special spacing that has not yet been implemented. As a result, there is too much space between ligatures most of the time, and line breaking often is unsatisfactory. Also, lyrics do not correctly align with ligatures.

Accidentals must not be printed within a ligature, but instead need to be collected and printed in front of it.

The syntax still uses the deprecated infix style \[ music expr \]. For consistency reasons, it will eventually be changed to postfix style note\[ ... note\]. Alternatively, the file gregorian-init.ly can be included; it provides a scheme function

\ligature music expr

with the same effect and is believed to be stable.

• White mensural ligatures
• Gregorian square neumes ligatures