New German Tablature Notation

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An example of an organ piece written in new German tablature notation

"New German Tablature" (de: Buchstabentabulatur) is a notation style used by north-German organists from around the late 16th-mid 18th centuries.

New German Tablature Notation is basically identical to the letter notation of Old German Tablature Notation.

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Notation

Music written in New German Tablature Notation is written in an "open-score" format in which the voices is written above and below each other with no concept of combining voices on separate staves.

The letters are written in what is now called Helmholtz Pitch Notation using B and H for (in english) B-Flat and B-Natural. The bass octave is written in capital letters, the tenor in lowercase, and subsequent octaves written with different number of horizontal lines above the letter.

\new Staff \with { \omit TimeSignature \omit Stem } \relative c, { \clef bass \cadenzaOn c2_\markup{ C } \glissando b'_\markup H c_\markup{ c } \glissando b'_\markup{ h } \clef treble c_\markup{ \override #'(baseline-skip . 0.5) \column { \draw-line #'(1 . 0) c } } \glissando b'_\markup{ \override #'(baseline-skip . 0.5) \column { \draw-line #'(1 . 0) h } } c_\markup{ \override #'(baseline-skip . 0.5) \column { \draw-line #'(1 . 0) \draw-line #'(1 . 0) c } } \glissando b'_\markup{ \override #'(baseline-skip . 0.5) \column { \draw-line #'(1 . 0) \draw-line #'(1 . 0) h } } c_\markup{ \override #'(baseline-skip . 0.5) \column { \draw-line #'(1 . 0) \draw-line #'(1 . 0) \draw-line #'(1 . 0) c } } }

For accidentals, the sharp is virtually always used instead of the flat equivalent (even when it is enharmonically incorrect) except for B-Flat which is written B.

\new Staff \with { \clef bass \omit TimeSignature \omit Stem \textLengthOn } \relative c { \cadenzaOn cis2_"cis" dis_"dis" fis_"fis" gis_"gis" bes_"b" }

A down-right stroke (representing -is) is appended to the letter.

Virtually all manuscripts in New German Tablature Notation write each system across both pages, unlike modern staff notation where each system goes across one page only.

References

Willi Apel. The Notation of Polyphonic Music. Fifth Edition. Cambridge, MA: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953. Reprinted 1961. 21-37.

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