Clef - History

History

The clefs developed at the same time as the stave, in the 10th century. Originally, instead of a special clef symbol, the reference line of the stave was simply labeled with the name of the note it was intended to bear: F and c (written as a small letter, since the capital C represented a note an octave lower) and, more rarely, g. These were the most often-used 'clefs', or litteræ-clavis (key-letters), in Gregorian chant notation. Over time the shapes of these letters became stylized, leading to their current versions.

Many other clefs were used, particularly in the early period of chant notation, including most of the notes from the low Γ (gamma, the note written today on the bottom line of the bass clef) up to the G above middle C, written with a small letter g, and including two forms of lowercase b (for the note just below middle C): round for B♭, and square for B♮. In order of frequency of use, these clefs were: F, c, f, C, D, a, g, e, Γ, B, and the round/square b.

In the polyphonic period up to 1600, unusual clefs were used occasionally for parts with extremely high or low written tessituras. For very low bass parts, the Γ clef is found on the middle, fourth, or fifth lines of the stave (e.g., in Pierre de La Rue’s Requiem and in a mid-16th-century dance book published by the Hessen brothers); for very high parts, the high-D clef (d), and the even higher ff clef (e.g., in the Mulliner Book) were used to represent the notes written on the fourth and top lines of the treble clef, respectively.

Varying shapes of different clefs persisted until very recent times. The F-clef was, until as late as the 1970s in some cases (such as hymnals), written like this: .

In printed music from the 16th and 17th centuries, the C clef often assumed a square form, like this 1639 tenor clef (the written note is a low E): .

The C-clef was formerly written in a more angular way, sometimes still used, or an even more simplified K-shape, when writing the clef by hand.

In modern Gregorian chant notation, the C clef is written (on a four-line stave) in the form and the F clef as .

The flourish at the top of the G-clef probably derives from a cursive S for "sol", the name for "G" in solfege.

C-clefs were formerly used to notate vocal music, a practice that dwindled away in the late 19th century. The soprano voice was written in first-line C clef (soprano clef), the alto voice in third-line C clef (alto clef), the tenor voice in fourth-line C clef (tenor clef) and the bass voice in fourth-line F clef (bass clef).

In more modern publications, four-part harmony on parallel staves is usually written more simply as:

• Soprano = treble clef (second-line G clef)
• Alto = treble clef
• Tenor = treble clef with an "8" below or a double treble clef
• Bass = bass clef (fourth-line F clef)

This may be reduced to two staves, the soprano/alto stave with a treble clef, and tenor/bass stave marked with the bass clef.