Re: Fermata sign on the last bar division not printed

[Erik Sandberg]

On Wednesday 26 January 2005 11.53, David Raleigh Arnold wrote:
> On Wednesday 26 January 2005 03:28 am, Sebastiano Vigna wrote:
> > Dear developers,
> > I don't know if this is a bug or my inability to scan through the
> > manual, but
> >
> > \score {
> >
> >            \context Staff = upper {
> >     \time 2/2
> >        \key c \major
> >     \relative c' {
> >        c c c c \mark \markup { \musicglyph #"scripts-ufermata" }
> >     }
> >
> >     }
> >     \layout{ raggedlast= ##t }
> > }
> >
> > won't print the fermata sign on the last bar line.
>
> A fermata is over a note or rest, a double bar, or a closing repeat
> sign.  If over a note or rest, it extends the duration.  Otherwise, it
> is equivalent to "fine", except that you can continue after the
> section it ends, IOW use it more than once.
>
> What could a fermata over an ordinary bar line possibly mean?  A bar
> has no duration, and you usually don't end at one.  Does the piece
> need a double bar?

This is a common notation used in the 18th century, e.g. Bach used it for bwv 
1001-1006. It's used at the last barline of a piece, possibly to mark that 
the next movement shouldn't be played attaca.

Erik