Re: Mandatory or a cautionary accidental?

[David Kastrup]

Urs Liska <address@hidden> writes:

> In the following situation is the sharp in gis' a mandatory or a
> cautionary accidental:
>
> {
>
>   \key a \major
>
>   g'1 ~
>
>   \break
>
>   g'2 gis'
>
> }
>
>
> ?
>
> Embarassingly I'm not sure about that right now but have to know.

It's more like "you have to decide".  I would recommend against
overinterpreting the words of engraving authorities on that: what they
try to get perfect is how things are supposed to be typeset, not what
they are supposed to be called.

So it comes down to making and explicitly _documenting_ an editorial
decision.

I would call that accidental "mandatory", and yes, that means that its
state depends on whether there is a linebreak or not.  But that's _my_
opinion and my gut feeling.

I don't think that LilyPond can make this distinction, so LilyPond
likely considers it cautionary.

> The original edition I'm copying omits the reminder flat after the
> line break and the sharp at the gis,
> and I've to know how to deal with the situation.

In that case, a sharp would be cautionary.  Leaving it off, however, is
not particularly friendly to musicians.

-- 
David Kastrup