+
+@node Overview of the supported styles
+@unnumberedsubsubsec Overview of the supported styles
+
+Note heads and flags, accidentals, time signatures, rests, and
+other features can be changed to emulate several different styles
+of ancient notation:
+
+
+@itemize
+@item @emph{Editio Vaticana} is a complete style for
+Gregorian chant, following the appearance of the Solesmes
+editions, the official chant books of the Vatican since 1904.
+Lilypond has support for all the notational signs used in this
+style, including ligatures, @emph{custodes}, and special signs
+such as the quilisma and the oriscus.
+
+@item The @emph{Editio Medicaea} style offers certain features
+used in the Medicaea (or Ratisbona) editions which were used prior
+to the Solesmes editions. The most significant differences from
+the @emph{Vaticana} style are the clefs, which have
+downward-slanted strokes, and the noteheads, which are square and
+regular.
+
+@item The @emph{Hufnagel} (@qq{horseshoe nail}) style mimics the
+writing style in chant manuscripts from Germany and Central Europe
+during the middle ages. It is named after the basic note shape
+(the @emph{virga}), which looks like a small nail.
+
+@item The @code{mensural} and @code{petrucci} styles aim to
+emulate the appearance of late-medieval and renaissance
+manuscripts and prints of mensural music. The @emph{Mensural}
+style most closely resembles the writing style used in
+late-medieval and early renaissance manuscripts, with its small
+and narrow, diamond-shaped noteheads and its rests which approach
+a hand-drawn style.
+
+@item The @emph{Neomensural} style is a modernized and
+stylized version of the former: the noteheads are broader and the
+rests are made up of straight lines. This style is particularly
+suited, e.g., for incipits of transcribed pieces of mensural
+music.
+
+@item The @emph{petrucci} style is named after Ottaviano Petrucci
+(1466-1539), the first printer to use movable type for music (in
+his @emph{Harmonice musices odhecaton}, 1501). The style uses
+larger note heads than the other mensural styles.
+
+@item @emph{Baroque} and @emph{Classical} are not complete styles
+but differ from the default style only in some details: certain
+noteheads (Baroque) and the quarter rest (Classical).
+
+@end itemize
+
+Only the mensural style has alternatives for all aspects of the
+notation. Thus, there are no rests or flags in the Gregorian
+styles, since these signs are not used in plainchant notation, and
+the Petrucci style has no flags or accidentals of its own. Each
+feature can be changed independently of the others, so that one
+can use mensural flags, petrucci noteheads, classical rests and
+vaticana clefs in the same piece, if one wishes.
+
+@node Predefined contexts
+@unnumberedsubsubsec Predefined contexts
+
+For Gregorian chant and mensural notation, there are pre-defined
+voice and staff contexts available, which set all the various
+notation signs to values suitable for these styles. If one is
+satisfied with these defaults, one can proceed directly with note
+entry without worrying about the details on how to customize a
+context.
+
+See @ref{Pre-defined contexts}.
+
+
+@itemize
+@item @ref{Gregorian chant contexts},
+@item @ref{Mensural contexts}.
+@end itemize
+
+
+@node Alternative and additional signs
+@unnumberedsubsubsec Alternative and additional signs
+