Rests
Just like the notes, the rest symbols already had the same shapes that were later to develop into the modern symbols (with the smaller values being successively introduced in the course of the period of Mensural notation). Unlike the notes themselves, rests had a fixed, invariable duration and could not be perfected, imperfected or alterated; however, they could in turn induce imperfection on a neighbouring larger note. For longa rests, there were two separate forms for the perfect (triplex) and for the imperfect (duplex) longa. As a consequence of their invariant duration, a sequence of rests could be used as an indication of the prevailing meter of a composition (in the absence of modern bar notation). This is often found at the beginning of the tenor voice of a composition.
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Famous quotes containing the word rests:
“The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“All grandeur, all power, all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)
“An entertainment is something which distracts us or diverts us from the routine of daily life. It makes us for the time being forget our cares and worries; it interrupts our conscious thoughts and habits, rests our nerves and minds, though it may incidentally exhaust our bodies. Art, on the other hand, though it may divert us from the normal routine of our existence, causes us in some way or other to become conscious of that existence.”
—Sir Herbert Read (1893–1968)