Re: Time signatures ¢¢ and cc

[Simon Albrecht]

Am 26.09.2014 um 04:10 schrieb Dan Eble:
> I have a hymnal in which many songs have time signatures with symbols
> "cc" and "¢¢" [doubled cut-time symbol].  I can't find any information on
> these online.  Does anyone know what they actually mean?  Were they
> common historically, or is this hymnal just using them ad hoc?
>
> My hypothesis based on the context and the feeling of the songs as they
> are usually sung is that "¢¢" is 4/2 (i.e. 2/2 + 2/2) and "cc" is a misprint.
> ("cc" appears very rarely.)
I don’t think either of them is a misprint. The double cut c time 
signature occurs in Schubert, op. 90, no. 4 (see 
<http://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/00364>, page 15) for 
example, and I do recall having seen double c in a similar kind of music 
also, so this kind of time signature has been in use historically: 
apparently mostly during the early 19th century.
Now the interpretation and history of the various time signatures 
derived in some way from mensural notation is a complex issue, as is the 
disambiguation of c and cut c. There are numerous historical 
dependencies, some controversially discussed, and I don’t think it’s the 
music typographer’s job to make any judgement. In any case, both the 
double time signatures you describe add up to a measure length of 4/2, 
only the musical meaning may subtly differ.

HTH, Simon