On 09.07.2016 20:53, Jogchum Reitsma wrote:
For me it still is odd to see cut C noted, and then not two, but four
halves in each bar.
The history of the c and cut c symbols is complex and difficult to
grasp. Historically, both are derived from proportion signs which said
nothing about the length of any ‘measures’, but about the proportion
of different note values. ‘Bar lines’ were already used in 15th and
16th century /scores/ (parts didn’t have bar lines at all), most
commonly at intervals of a longa (4/1) or a brevis (2/1). As time went
on, music of the ‘seconda prattica’ moved on towards ever shorter note
values and eventually it became an option to write lines after each
whole note duration.
This Bach piece we are talking about references the ‘old style’
through its notation, placing the bar lines after each breve, but Bach
added those small lines at half measures – I think that’s a speciality
of his.
Using cut c as a synonym for 2/2 measure really is a 19th (or even
20th?) century invention.
Best, Simon