0 a musical note with a time value equal to two semibreves : --
The string parts are full of breves and semibreves.
1 a symbol (˘) written or printed above a vowel to show that it is pronounced with a short sound: --
The pairs of crossed breve rests (pausas transfixis) retain their normal value - thus each pair is equal, in modern transcription, to a dotted semibreve rest.
In diminution the perfect longs are replaced by perfect breves, preceded by a perfect semibreve.
Other contentious points depend on whether a rest between phrases should be a perfect long or a breve.
The new music is twelve perfect longs in length, thirty-six breves.
The notation of this piece - like many others in this repertory - uses rhomboid breves.
The breve following this long does not imperfect the long but is simply a guidepost between the two possible referents of the same figure.
If both voices are taken into account, the total is, again, 72 (this time, breves).
The contrafact shows how close these little motets were to the secular repertoire (it is only twenty breves long).
