Re: Issue 1701 in lilypond: default accidental style prints too many 'ex

[Keith OHara]

On Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:59:02 +1000 bruys wrote:
> I'm looking at Dover's PIANO MUSIC OF ROBERT SCHUMANN: SERIES I which is a
> reprint of Breitkopf & Härtel, originally printed between 1879 & 1887.
>
> On page 179, 5th system, 2nd bar, there is an extra natural before the d#.
> No other d's in sight, but the key signature is f minor. That would seem to
> be an example using the feature.

What piece falls on page 179?
Nevermind, while guessing I found the B&H publication of Schumann Nachtstrück 
number 3 (Op 23) which has a veritable orgy of extra accidentals.  It was edited by 
the same Clara Schumann who edited the Symphonic Etudes (Op 13) where Edward Neeman 
showed us that she _omits_ the extra-extra-natural when writing a sharped note that 
would otherwise be flat.

Are you saying you want LilyPond to have a feature to produce all of these 
naturals automatically ?  or that Clara Schumann would have appreciated it (too 
lat for that) ?

LilyPond intended to follow the (old) standard, and the textbooks quoted say 
the old custom was to put an extra natural when a single alteration follows a 
_double_.  If they meant to include gis to ges they could have said when an 
alteration follows a _different_ alteration.

On Thu, 23 Jun 2011 08:45:45 +1000 brys wrote:
> I came across a further reference, in Richard Rastall's The Notation of
> Western Music (2nd edition), [...]
> you'll see that he explicitly refers to cancelling single accidentals. He is
> talking about the rise of the notation of tonal music, and mentions Bach's
> Well Tempered Clavier on the same page.

What does he say about canceling single accidentals?
Around the time of Well-Tempered Clavier people were still using a sharp sign 
to indicate E-natural in the key of B-flat, so using a single natural sign to 
indicate E-natural could actually be worth mention in that context.

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