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Time: in mensural notation, the division of the breve into three semibreves (tempus perfectum, shown by a circle) or two (tempus imperfectum, shown by a half-circle).
Also spelled: tempus perfectum, tempus imperfectum
In mensural notation, tempus describes how many semibreves fill a breve: three in tempus perfectum (a circle), two in tempus imperfectum (a half-circle). The modern C and cut-C time signatures descend from that half-circle. Knowing the system helps you read and edit Renaissance music, and explains why older time signatures look as they do.
Tempus is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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