LilyPond — Changes
This document lists changes and new features in LilyPond version 2.21.82 since 2.20.
New for musical notation
Displaying pitch improvements
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An accidental glyph corresponding to SMuFL code
U+E2E3 has been added (Extended Helmholtz-Ellis
accidentals: Raise by one undecimal quartertone).
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Quarter-tone note names are now available in all the input languages.
\language "català" \relative { do'4 sol' miqb re do1 } -
Setting
suggestAccidentalsto'cautionaryturns only cautionary accidentals intoAccidentalSuggestions. This can be used to distinguish between facsimile and editorial accidentals.\relative { \key d \minor d''4 cis8 b? cis2 \set suggestAccidentals = ##t d4 cis8 b? cis2 \set suggestAccidentals = #'cautionary d4 cis8 b? cis2 } -
The command
\ambitusAfterhas been added. It is used to move the ambitus to a different position.\new Staff \with { \consists Ambitus_engraver } \relative { \ambitusAfter key-signature \key d \major es'8 g bes cis d2 } -
Ottava brackets are now introduced with a single number by default
(e.g., ‘8’ or ‘15’), and printed in bold. A new
ottavationMarkupsproperty has been introduced to modify that behavior, with several predefined lists of markups available:\relative c'' { \ottava #1 a'2 b \ottava #2 a'2 b \bar "||" \set Staff.ottavationMarkups = #ottavation-ordinals \ottava #1 a,2 b \ottava #2 a'2 b \bar "||" \set Staff.ottavationMarkups = #ottavation-simple-ordinals \ottava #1 a,2 b \ottava #2 a'2 b }
Rhythm improvements
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Tuplets can now be printed with slurs instead of brackets:
\relative { \tuplet 3/2 4 { \override TupletBracket.tuplet-slur = ##t c'4 e8 d4 f8 \override TupletBracket.bracket-visibility = ##t e f g f e d } c1 } -
French beaming (
\override Stem.french-beaming = ##t) now exactly behaves like standard (i.e., default) beaming in every respect (beam positioning and placement of any articulation, fingering, etc.). The only remaining difference are inner stems not passing through beams. -
Swing and irregular rhythmic patterns may now be applied to
music expressions made of regular durations, which may be
used to render inequal rhythmic interpretation in MIDI.
\include "swing.ly" << \new Staff \with { instrumentName = "ordinary" } \repeat unfold 8 c'8 \new Staff \with { instrumentName = "with swing" } \repeat unfold 4 \tripletFeel 8 { c'8 c' } \new Staff \with { instrumentName = "triplets" } \tuplet 3/2 4 \repeat unfold 12 c'8 >> -
Font glyphs for 256th, 512th, and 1024th flags and rests have been added.
-
The new
Merge_mmrest_numbers_engraverhides duplicate numbers on multi-measure rests.
Expressive mark improvements
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A dynamic command
\nfor niente has been added. -
Two new ornaments have been added.
{ c''2\slashturn c''\haydnturn } -
A very short fermata and Henze variants of long and short fermatas
have been added.
{ c'1\veryshortfermata c'2\henzeshortfermata c'\henzelongfermata } -
Fermatas and other articulations can now be added directly to
multi-measure rests. Therefore the command
\fermataMarkupis deprecated.{ R1\fermata R-> R\coda }
Editorial annotation improvements
-
The
New_fingering_engraverwill now consider theX-align-on-main-noteheadsproperty of theself-alignment-interface. If set to true (##t), all fingerings orientedupordownwill be arranged in a straight column and aligned on the noteheads on the correct side of the stem:{ \set fingeringOrientations = #'(up) <e'-1 d''-4 e''-5>4 <a'-1 b'-2 fis''-5> \set fingeringOrientations = #'(down) <e'-1 d''-4 e''-5> <eis'-1 e''-4 fis''-5> \bar "." \override Fingering.X-align-on-main-noteheads = ##t \set fingeringOrientations = #'(up) <e'-1 d''-4 e''-5> <a'-1 b'-2 fis''-5> \set fingeringOrientations = #'(down) <e'-1 d''-4 e''-5> <eis'-1 e''-4 fis''-5> }
Text formatting improvements
- The default fonts are now those from the URW Core 35 set, version 2.0, replacing the TeX Gyre fonts. Note that the fonts come with a ligature for ‘Nr.’; see Fonts explained for solutions to avoid it locally and globally.
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The
\notemarkup command now takes as its first argument a duration instead of a string:\markup { \override #'(style . cross) { \note {4..} #UP } \hspace #2 \note {\breve} #0 }
New for specialist notation
Vocal music improvements
-
A lyric hyphen may now be repeated at the start of
a system beginning with a new syllable:
-
A gradual change of vowel (or sustained consonant) may
be indicated by adding a vowel transition between lyric
syllables with the command
\vowelTransition.{ g'2 g' } \addlyrics { Ah \vowelTransition oh. }
Unfretted and fretted string instrument improvements
-
Fret-diagrams may now be printed left-handed, setting
handednesstoLEFT(as a subproperty offret-diagram-details).\markup \center-column { "C" "(left-handed)" \override #`(fret-diagram-details . ((handedness . ,LEFT))) \fret-diagram "6-x;5-3-3;4-2-2;3-o;2-1;1-o;" } - Some ukulele fretboard-diagrams have been fixed, and new diagrams have also been added.
Chord notation improvements
-
Chords may now be automatically inverted or voiced with dropped notes.
\chordmode { \dropNote 2 { c2:maj7 d:m7 } \invertChords 1 d1:maj7 } -
Legacy chord naming functions
banter-chord-namesandjazz-chord-names, have been removed from the main codebase, as have been the propertieschordNamesExceptionsFullandchordNamesExceptionsPartial. As part of that rewrite, power chords are now included in the default exceptions; they will be printed correctly (with a superscript like all other chords) with no additional tweaks required, thereby removing the need for the\powerChordspredefined command. Anyone interested in the legacy functions may find a (somewhat working) copy of them in the ‘chord-names-alternative.ly’ snippet.
Contemporary music improvements
-
A new grob
DurationLineis now available. It continues a rhythmic grob with a line, ending at the next rhythmic grob. Possible styles are'beam,'line,'dashed-line,'dotted-line,'zigzag,'trilland'none. The duration line may end with a hook (beam-style only) or an arrow.
New for input and output
Input file improvements
-
As announced in version 2.17.3 nearly eight years ago, the
'relative-includesoption is now enabled by default; included files that contain an\includecommand of their own must account for their own path rather than the main file’s directory. That behavior may however be switched off by setting'relative-includesto#f, either as a command line option or usingly:set-optionin source files. -
\compressFullBarRestshas been renamed to\compressEmptyMeasures, to avoid possible confusion with\compressMMRests. Likewise,\expandFullBarRestshas now become\expandEmptyMeasures. -
The
\partcombinecommand, as well as allpartCombine-prefixed commands, subroutines and property names, are now written with a capital C, such as\partCombine,\partCombineApartetc. The\autochangecommand is now also capitalized as\autoChange. -
All input languages (
\languagestatement) can be entered using their proper UTF-8 spelling (i.e., including special characters). The missing namescatalàandportuguêsare available now in addition to the original namescatalanandportugues. - LilyPond for Windows (MinGW) can handle Unicode filenames on Windows 10 1903 and above.
Output improvements
-
Skylines will now take account of the
rotationproperty of layout objects. Rotating a crescendo hairpin by applying\override Hairpin.rotation = #'(15 0 0), for instance, will now actually have influence on the skylines and thus help to enhance spacing. -
Slight padding added between natural glyphs just touching at the corners
in key cancellations.
{ \omit Staff.TimeSignature \key ces \major s1 \key c \major s } -
Skylines of boxes now reflect the actual box outline
including rounded corners and rotation.
#(ly:set-option 'debug-skylines #t) { b'1^\markup \scale #'(2 . 1) \rotate #30 \override #'(corner-radius . 3) \rounded-box \center-column { box skyline } } -
CSS-style colors can now be used directly as text strings;
either with predefined color names (like with the already available
css-colorfunction), or with hexadecimal color codes prefixed with#. All stencils that support acolorproperty now accept either a list or a string; in the latter case, that string is used directly in the SVG output. This allows to use alpha transparency (entered as "#RRGGBBAA" or "#RGBA") in SVG.\override NoteHead.color = "lightsalmon" \override Flag.color = "#E30074" \override Beam.color = "#5e45ad" \override Rest.color = "#3058" g'8 \huge r4 a'16 f'
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PDF bookmarks are now supported and allow for
\tocItementries to appear in the ‘table of contents’ panel of PDF viewers that support it. -
\table-of-contentsnow accepts a hierarchical structure;\tocItementries may optionally take a symbol (like\label) or a dot-separated list of symbols, indicating their position in the score’s structure. A side-effect of that feature is that\tocItemcan no longer take a simple string as its argument; a\markupcommand must be used.\tocItem \markup "Top-level entry" \tocItem symbol "Named top-level entry" \tocItem symbol.list "Second-level (child) entry"
- Using the new options ‘-dpng-width’ and ‘-dpng-height’ it is now possible to specify the pixel size of PNG output images.
- SVG output is now available through the ‘--svg’ command-line option (or its canonical form ‘--format=svg’, also shortened as ‘-fsvg’). Due to its backend’s specificity, that option is not yet compatible with other output formats; to get a file in both SVG and PDF, PNG or EPS, a second LilyPond run is required.
For older news, go to https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.20/Documentation/changes/, https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.18/Documentation/changes/, or go back to the Documentation index.