Longa (music) Longa (music) A longa (pl. "longe" or "longae"), long, quadruple note (Am.), or quadruple whole note is a musical note that could be either twice or three times as long as a breve (Am.: double whole note, or double note), four or six times as long as a semibreve (Am.: whole note), that appears in early music. The number of breves in a long was determined by the "modus" or "mode" of a passage. Sections in perfect mode used three breves to the long while sections in imperfect mode used two breves to the long. Imperfect longs, worth two breves,
Clavier-Übung III we trust, Protect Christ's congregation, His everlasting truth assert, All evil graciously avert, Lead us to life eternal.</poem> BWV 675, 66 bars long, is a two-part invention for the upper and lower voices with the "cantus firmus" in the alto part. The two outer parts are intricate and rhythmically complex with wide leaps, contrasting with the "cantus firmus" which moves smoothly by steps in minims and crotchets. The time signature has been taken to be one of the references in this movement to the Trinity. Like the two preceding chorale preludes, there is no explicit "manualiter" marking, only an ambiguous