Alla breve

Two half notes instead of four quarter notes

The page Rhythm says that the time signature tells you how many beats fit into a bar and which note value forms a beat. 4/4 time is also written there as “C”. The C with a stroke, ¢, according to the symbol library means 2/2: two half-note beats per bar. The music therefore usually feels faster and lighter.

Where the sign comes from

The library explains that the sign goes back to mensural notation: the open C was tempus imperfectum, not a “C for common time”. The stroke comes from proportional notation, where it called for doubling the tempo. Today alla breve is typical of marches, fast movements and church music in the stile antico.

An example

Voice and piano

• Der Tod und das Mädchen Franz Schubert, D. 531 · voice and piano · 2 pages

  The piece is in alla breve time (¢) with one flat. Fittingly the tempo marking is “Mässig.” (moderately), with the metronome mark half note = 54: it is counted and measured in half notes, not quarter notes.

The page Tools points out that the reference value of a metronome mark matters: a “6/8 at 80” means something quite different depending on the reference value. The same holds for alla breve: the half note is the beat, and the number 54 counts half notes per minute.