This page explores the longest duration ratios in the database — those instances when a very short note(s) is followed by a very long note(s). We somewhat arbitrarily define the longest duration ratios as those of value 72 or more because that’s the tail end of the distribution and there are only a few of that length. Any pair of notes qualifies if the duration of the second note is at least 72 times the length of the note preceding it. The information on this page is current as of January 2026 when there were 82,000 tunes in the database.
The longest duration ratio in the database is in this selection at the end of a piece called Wooddy-Cock #141 in The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, Vol. 1 (Maitland & Squire). The end of this piece has a 32nd note followed by a dotted whole note tied to another dotted whole note. Here’s how the duration ratio is calculated: Each whole note is valued at 16, so a dotted whole note is 24 (the sum of 16 and 8). There are two such notes making up the second half of the duration, so that’s 48. The 32nd note is valued at 0.5, and 48 divided by 0.5 is 96.
The next longest duration ratio in the database is at the end of the andante in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in the sixth movement known as Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuyle. The end of the andante is shown at the left where the duration ratio with a value of 84 is circled in red. This largest of duration ratios was formed using a 64th note triplet followed by a dotted half note tied to an eighth note. Here’s how this duration ratio is calculated: (12 + 2) / (0.25 x 2/3) = 84. The raw value of the 64th note is 0.25 because a 64th note is one quarter the length of a sixteenth note, which has a duration value of one.
The third longest duration ratio is from a jazz piece by Charles Mingus called Pithecanthropus Erectu, written in 1956. The duration ratio is 80, which means that the second note is 80 times longer than the note that precedes it:
The duration ratio of 80 is formed by four whole notes tied together, all preceded by a sixteenth note in a quintuplet. Jazz melodies are sometimes meant as a simple structure on which to build riffs, and that is the case for this Mingus piece. Here’s how the duration ratio is calculated: (16 + 16 + 16 + 16) / (1 * 0.8), which simplifies to 64 / 0.8 or 80.
We found two duration ratios tied for third place, both having a duration ratio value of 72 (the second note is 72 times longer than the first note). The first of these is from Victor Hugo’s Babes in Toyland, specifically from “In the Toymaker’s Workshop,” written in 1903 and shown at the left. The pattern is circled in red and was formed by Hugo using a triplet 32nd note followed by a dotted half note tied to another dotted half note. The calculation is: (12 + 12) / (0.5 x 2/3) or 72.
The other long duration ratio tied for third place is found in Noel No. 6 from Livre de Noels, Op. 2 by composer Louis-Claude Daquin in a section sometimes referred to as “sans tremblant.” The relevant portion of the music is shown at the left and circled in red. The specific pattern used by Daquin to form a duration ratio of value 72 is a 32nd note triplet followed by a quarter note tied to two half notes and further tied to another quarter note. The calculation of the duration ratio is: (4 + 8 + 8 + 4) / (0.5 x 2/3), which shortens to 24 x 3 or 72.
If we relax the requirement of a “long duration ratio” to 64, we find several tunes with note patterns that contain a duration ratio of that length. We provide as an example here only the earliest: Bach’s adagio in his Sonata #1 for solo violin, BWV 1001 that he wrote in 1723. Bach’s last two notes in the adagio is a 64th note followed by a whole note. Here are the last two bars from the adagio:
(Music engraving by LilyPond.)
Whole notes are assigned a duration value of 16 units, and a 64th note is 0.25 units. The duration ratio is therefore 16/0.25 = 64.