Unattached decrescendo in a single measure/single chord in lilypond

Question

How to code the single measure/single chord decrescendo in lilypond?

|\> <ees' aes' c''>1  \!| 

the above code gives a warning in lilypond: unterminated decrescendo.

Answer 1

Crescendo and decrescendo marks must be tied to a note (or rest); however, you can create a note with zero duration to get the effect you're looking for.

    | <ees' aes' c''>1\> c1*0\! |

Results in

This will work in any measure, including the final measure of the piece.

Note that decrescendo marks that terminate at the downbeat of the following measure will be engraved to end at the bar line. So you can get the same effect in a more standard way just by notating the following measure and attaching the "!" to the downbeat.

Answer 2

Dynamic marks (including crescendo/decrescendo etc.) need to be typed after note they are acting on.

So:

    <ees' aes' c''>1\> | 
    <ees' aes' c''>1\! | 

will produce

---

But, because you want the decrescendo mark to end at the end of the last bar — (where you have no note to attach to), you will need to place the dynamics in a different voice with (invisible) spacers that specify where the dynamics are to be placed:

    <<
        { <ees' aes' c''>1 } \\ 
        { s4\> s4 s4 s4\! } 
    >> |