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Note names in other languages

There are predefined sets of note and accidental names for various other languages. Selecting the note name language is usually done at the beginning of the file; the following example is written using Italian note names:

\language "italiano"

\relative {
  do' re mi sib
}

The available languages and the note names they define are:

Language	Note Names
nederlands	c d e f g a bes b
català or  catalan	do re mi fa sol la sib si
deutsch	c d e f g a b h
english	c d e f g a bf/b-flat b
español or  espanol	do re mi fa sol la sib si
français	do ré/re mi fa sol la sib si
italiano	do re mi fa sol la sib si
norsk	c d e f g a b h
português or  portugues	do re mi fa sol la sib si
suomi	c d e f g a b h
svenska	c d e f g a b h
vlaams	do re mi fa sol la sib si

In addition to note names, accidental suffixes may also vary depending on the language:

Language	sharp	flat	double sharp	double flat
nederlands	is	es	isis	eses
català or  catalan	d/s	b	dd/ss	bb
deutsch	is	es	isis	eses
english	s/-sharp	f/-flat	ss/x/-sharpsharp	ff/-flatflat
español or  espanol	s	b	ss/x	bb
français	d	b	dd/x	bb
italiano	d	b	dd	bb
norsk	iss/is	ess/es	ississ/isis	essess/eses
português or  portugues	s	b	ss	bb
suomi	is	es	isis	eses
svenska	iss	ess	ississ	essess
vlaams	k	b	kk	bb

In Dutch, German, Norwegian, and Finnish, aes is contracted to as; in Dutch and Norwegian, however, both forms are accepted by LilyPond. Exactly the same holds for es and ees, aeses and ases, and finally eeses and eses.

In German and Finnish, LilyPond additionally provides the more frequent form asas for ases.

\relative c'' { a2 as e es a ases e eses }

Some music uses microtones whose alterations are fractions of a ‘normal’ sharp or flat. The following table lists note name suffixes for quarter tone accidentals; here the prefixes semi- and sesqui- respectively mean ‘half’ and ‘one and a half’.

Language	semi-sharp	semi-flat	sesqui-sharp	sesqui-flat
nederlands	ih	eh	isih	eseh
català or  catalan	qd/qs	qb	tqd/tqs	tqb
deutsch	ih	eh	isih	eseh
english	qs	qf	tqs	tqf
español or  espanol	cs	cb	tcs	tcb
français	sd	sb	dsd	bsb
italiano	sd	sb	dsd	bsb
norsk	ih	eh	issih/isih	esseh/eseh
português or  portugues	sqt	bqt	stqt	btqt
suomi	ih	eh	isih	eseh
svenska	ih	eh	issih	esseh
vlaams	hk	hb	khk	bhb

In German, there are similar name contractions for microtones as with normal pitches described above.

\language "deutsch"

\relative c'' { asah2 eh aih eisih }

Most languages presented here are commonly associated with Western classical music, also referred to as Common Practice Period. However, alternate pitches and tuning systems are also supported: see Common notation for non-Western music.

See also

Music Glossary: Pitch names, Common Practice Period.

Notation Reference: Common notation for non-Western music.

Installed Files: scm/define-note-names.scm.

Snippets: Pitches.