Lilypond first alternative has only one note

Question

I have used repeats with alternatives before without any problem, but now (all of a sudden?) I am seeing some very odd behavior, where the first alternative only has one note regardless of duration. Here is a very simple example:

This:

\version "2.18.2"
\relative c' {
  \repeat volta 2 { c4 c c c |}
  \alternative { d d d d |} {e e e e |}
}

Renders this:

And, incidentally, I get a barcheck error at the end of the second alternative.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions. I am baffled!

Answer 1

Doh.

I omitted the outer curly braces around the two alternatives. The corrected version should be:

\relative c' {
  \key f \major
  \repeat volta 2 { c4 c c c |}
  \alternative { { d d d d |} {e e e e |} }
}

Answer 2

I got the same message because of a different error:

\new Staff\relative c'' {
  \clef treble \key bes \major \time 3/4
  \repeat volta 2 { a c a f c e | }             
  \alternative {
    { f4. g16 a bes a bes c } |
    { f,2. } |
  }
}

-> "More alternatives than repeats. Junking excess alternatives."

Should be:

  \alternative {
    { f4. g16 a bes a bes c |}
    { f,2. |}
  }