What's this horizontal bar notation in liturgy called?

Question

I just came across a liturgical peace using horizontal bars as notation for parts where a continuous reciting tone is used. I'd like to know whether there's a specific name for this bar notation (and ultimately, how to reproduce it in LilyPond). Can anybody help me out here?

Answer 1

I couldn't find other examples, but based on the content I'll take a guess.

I think that the long note means to chant the lyrics on that tone. The page looks a bit like Gregorian Chant notation with modifications to a 5-line staff. The last system has two notes over a single syllable which has a special symbol in Chant notation. There is no rhythm indicated so I'd guess that the rhythm is the normal speech rhythm of the text. I'm basing my guess on this: http://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/neumes.pdf.

Answer 2

Actually, with the help of this post, I already got a little farther. Now I only need to find out how to align the text correctly with the beginning of the line, instead of centering the line start over the text. Any ideas? Here's the code:

\version "2.16.2"
\include "deutsch.ly"


ohr = \markup {
  \with-dimensions #'(0 . 0) #'(0 . 0)
  \translate #'( 0 . -0.3)
  \combine \filled-box #'(-0.3 . +0.3) #'(0 . 0.3) #0 % Naht
  \filled-box #'(-0.8 . +0.8) #'(0 . 0.15) #0         % Strich
} 

balken = {
   \once \override Glissando #'after-line-breaking =
    #(lambda (grob)
      (let* ((left-bound (ly:spanner-bound grob LEFT))
             (left-Y (assoc-get 'Y (ly:grob-property grob 'left-bound-        info))))
       (ly:grob-set-property! left-bound 'stencil #f)
       (ly:grob-set-nested-property! grob '(right-bound-info Y) left-Y)))

   \once \override Glissando #'thickness = #6
   \once \override Glissando #'(bound-details left  padding) = #-0.5
   \once \override Glissando #'(bound-details right padding) = #1.3
   \once \override Glissando #'(bound-details left text) = \markup \rotate     #-90 \ohr
   \once \override Glissando #'(bound-details right text) = \markup \rotate     #90 \ohr
   \once \override Glissando #'springs-and-rods = #ly:spanner::set-            spacing-rods
   \once \override Glissando #'minimum-length = 10
   <>\glissando
}

 \score {
   <<
   \new Staff <<    
    \new Voice = "Alt"
      \relative c'' {
        \key g \major
        \clef treble
        \time 1/4
        \autoBeamOff
            \override Score.SpacingSpanner #'packed-spacing = ##t
            \set Score.timing = ##f     
            \balken g
        a g g
        \break
        \balken g
        fis g g
        \break
        \balken g
        a g
        \break
        \balken g
        fis g
        \break
        \balken g
        a g
        \break
        \balken g
        fis g
        \break
        g a g(fis) fis
      }
      \addlyrics {
        "Herr tue meine" Lip- pen auf.
        "dass mein Mund deinen Ruhm ver-" kün- di- ge.
        "Gott, gedenke mein nach deiner" Gna- de.
        "Herr, erhöhre mich mit deiner treuen" Hil- fe.
        "Ehre sei dem Vater und dem Sohne und dem Heiligen" Geis- te
        "wie im Anfang, so auch jetzt und alle Zeit und in Ewigkeit."     A- men.
        [Hal- le- lu-_ ja]
      }
      >>
  >>
  \midi {
  }
  \layout {
   \context {
    \Staff
    \remove "Time_signature_engraver"
    \remove "Bar_engraver"
    \override Stem #'transparent = ##t
    \override Flag #'transparent = ##t
    \override Beam #'transparent = ##t
   } % context
  } % layout
} % score

The result looks like this: