Cut time sign (C barré)
C barré is the French name for the barred C at the start of a line. The sign stands for alla breve time, that is, 2/2 time: four quarter notes per bar, but counted in two half notes. The barred and the plain C both go back to mensural notation.
- Sign
- barred C
- Meaning
- alla breve, 2/2
- Beat
- half note instead of quarter note
- Counterpart
- plain C for 4/4
One sign for two half notes
At the start of a piece there is often a time signature. The plain C means 4/4. If it is barred vertically, it is alla breve time (2/2), called C barré in French. The note values in the bar are the same, but the beat is larger: counting is not in quarter notes but in half notes, so only two beats per bar.
The same notes, once in 4/4
In 4/4 time you count four beats per bar, each quarter note is a beat. The plain C is written here at the start of the line.
… and in 2/2 (alla breve)
The notes are identical, but here you count two beats per bar, each half note is a beat. The piece therefore feels calmer and more broadly phrased. At the start of the line the barred C would appear. The numbers 2/2 are a written variant of the sign.
In the glossary: Time signature · Alla breve · Metronome
| C (4/4) | C barré (2/2) | |
|---|---|---|
| Note values per bar | four quarter notes | four quarter notes |
| Beats per bar | four | two |
| Beat | quarter note | half note |
| Effect with the same notation | divided in four | broader, in two large beats |
The sign in practice
The two lines are the same in notation but not to be played the same. In alla breve the tempo applies to the half note. If you want to set a piece on the metronome, relate the marking to the half note, not the quarter note. The same metronome number then sounds twice as fast. Musicians use alla breve time when a piece would be too fast to count in quarter notes, or when it is to be phrased broadly and flowingly.
It is worth not overlooking the time signature at the start of a line: a barred C is not the same as a plain C. An example from the sheet music archive is the first movement of Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata”.
Piano
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Mondscheinsonate, Satz 1 Ludwig van Beethoven, op. 27 No. 2 · piano · 5 pages
The barred C appears at the start of the line in both staves. The movement is headed Adagio sostenuto and carries four sharps in the key signature. The sign is the barred C, not the plain C.
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Related terms
Alla breveTime signatureQuarter noteHalf noteMetronomeTempo
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
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