Figured bass

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Melody from the opening of Henry Purcell's "Thy Hand, Belinda", Dido and Aeneas (1689) with figured bass below (Playⓘ, Playⓘ with figured bass realization).

Figured bass is

non-chord tones that a musician playing piano, harpsichord, organ, or lute (or other instruments capable of playing chords) should play in relation to the bass note. Figured bass is closely associated with basso continuo: a historically improvised accompaniment used in almost all genres of music in the Baroque period of Classical music
(c. 1600–1750), though rarely in modern music. Figured bass is also known as thoroughbass.

Other systems for

G7
, etc.).

Basso continuo

Main article: Basso continuo

harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression
. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing the continuo part are called the continuo group.

A harpsichordist and a bassist play continuo for a small group of singers.

The makeup of the continuo group is often left to the discretion of the performers (or, for a larger performance, the

sacred music
. A double bass may be added, particularly when accompanying a lower-pitched solo voice (e.g., a bass singer).

Typically performers match the

Charon
stands watch to the sound of a regal.

The keyboard (or other chord-playing instrument) player

staff notation for a player, in place of improvisation. With the rise in historically informed performance, however, the number of performers who are able to improvise their parts from the figures, as Baroque players would have done, has increased.[citation needed
]

Basso continuo, though an essential structural and identifying element of the Baroque period, rapidly declined in the

C. P. E. Bach's Concerto in D minor for flute, strings and basso continuo (1747). Examples of its use in the 19th century are rarer, but they do exist: masses by Anton Bruckner, Beethoven, and Franz Schubert, for example, have a basso continuo part that was for an organist.[citation needed
]

Figured bass notation

A part notated with figured bass consists of a

inversions
of which chords are to be played.

The phrase

dominant chord
(spelled B–D–G, from bottom note of the chord to the top).

Composers were inconsistent in the usages described below. Especially in the 17th century, the numbers were omitted whenever the composer thought the chord was obvious. Early composers such as Claudio Monteverdi often specified the octave by the use of compound intervals such as 10, 11, and 15.

Numbers

Common Conventional Symbols for Figured Bass
Triads
Inversion Intervals
above bass 		Symbol Example
Root position 5
3 		None
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \relative c' { \clef treble \time 3/4 <e g c>4 <c g' c> <c e g> } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \time 3/4 c4 e g } \figures { < _ >4 <6> <6 4> } >> >> }
1st inversion 6
3 		6
2nd inversion 6
4 		6
4
Seventh chords
Inversion Intervals
above bass 		Symbol Example
Root position 75
3  		7
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 <b d f>4 <g d' f> <b f' g > <b d g> } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \time 4/4 g4 b d f } \figures { <7>4 <6 5> <4 3> <4 2> } >> >> }
1st inversion 65
3  		6
5
2nd inversion 64
3  		4
3
3rd inversion 64
2  		4
2 or 2

Contemporary figured bass abbreviations for triads and seventh chords are shown in the table to the right.

The numbers indicate the number of scale steps above the given bass-line that a note should be played.[4] For example:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 6/4 \clef bass << { c1 } \figures { < 6 4 >1 } >> }

Here, the bass note is a C, and the numbers 4 and 6 indicate that notes a fourth and a sixth above it should be played, that is an F and an A. In other words, the second inversion of an F major chord can be realized as:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 6/4 \clef bass << { <a f c>1 } >> }

In cases where the numbers 3 or 5 would normally be understood, these are usually left out. For example:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \clef bass << { \cadenzaOn c1 b, g, } \figures { < _ >1 < 6 > < 7 > } >> }

has the same meaning as

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \clef bass << { \cadenzaOn c1 b, g, } \figures { < 5 3 >1 < 6 3 > < 7 5 3 > } >> }

and can be realized as

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \clef bass \cadenzaOn <c e g>1 <b, d g> <g, b, d f> }

although the performer may choose which octave to play the notes in and will often elaborate them in some way, such as by playing them as arpeggios rather than as block chords, or by adding improvised ornaments, depending on the tempo and texture of the music.

Sometimes, other numbers are omitted: a 2 on its own or 4
2 indicates 64
2 , for example. From the figured bass-writer's perspective, this bass note is obviously a

sixth interval is viewed as an interval that the player should automatically infer. In many cases entire figures can be left out, usually where the chord is obvious from the progression
or the melody.

Sometimes the chord changes but the bass note itself is held. In these cases the figures for the new chord are written wherever in the bar they are meant to occur.

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 6/4 << { a'2 g' } \new Staff { \clef bass { c1 } } \figures { < 6 >2 < 5 > } >> }
can be realized as
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 6/4 << { a'2 g' } \new Staff { \clef bass << { <a e>2 <c' e> } \\ { c1 } >> } >> }

When the bass note changes but the notes in the chord above it are to be held, a line is drawn next to the figure or figures, for as long as the chord is to be held, to indicate this:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 6/4 \clef bass << { c2 b, } \figures { \bassFigureExtendersOn < 6 >2 < 6> } >> }
can be realized as
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 6/4 \clef bass << { <e a>1 } \\ { c2 b, } >> }

When the bass moves the chord intervals have effectively changed, in this case from 6
3 to 7
4, but no additional numbers are written.

Accidentals

When an accidental is shown on its own without a number, it applies to the note a third above the lowest note; most commonly, this is the third of the chord.[5] Otherwise, if a number is shown, the accidental affects the said interval.[4] For example, this, showing the widespread default meaning of an accidental without number as applying to the third above the bass:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \clef bass << { e1 c } \figures { < _+ >1 < 6- _- > } >> }
can be realized as
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \clef bass <e gis b>1 <c ees aes> }

Sometimes the accidental is placed after the number rather than before it.

Alternatively, a cross placed next to a number indicates that the pitch of that note should be raised (

augmented) by a semitone (so that if it is normally a flat it becomes a natural, and if it is normally a natural it becomes a sharp). A different way to indicate this is to draw a backslash through the number itself.[5]
The following three notations, therefore, all indicate the same thing:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { c1 c c } \figures { < 6! >1 < 6\+ > <6\\> } >> }
can all be realized as
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { <c ees a>1 } >> }

More rarely, a

diminished) by a semitone: [6]

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { c1 c } \figures { < 5- >1 < 5/ > } >> }
can both be realized as
{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { <c ees ges>1 } >> }

When sharps or flats are used with

natural sign
.

Example in context

J. S. Bach (BWV 443). Playⓘ

Contemporary uses

In the 20th and 21st century, figured bass is also sometimes used by

Bach chorale or a Chopin piano prelude
). Figured bass is not generally used in modern musical compositions, except for neo-Baroque pieces.

In the 2000s, outside of professional

chord symbol
.

A form of figured bass is used in notation of accordion music; another simplified form is used to notate guitar chords.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0
    .
  2. ^ Schoenberg, Arnold (1983), Structural Functions of Harmony (7th ed.), London: Mcgraw-Hill, pp. 1–2.
  3. ^ "Classical Era (1750-1820)", TheGreatHistoryofArts.Weebly.com. Accessed: 27 July 2017.
  4. ^ a b Vigil, R. "Figured Bass Notation" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-10-10. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-393-95480-7
    .
  6. ^ "Reference : Alterations in figured bass".

Further reading

External links
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