# Figured bass help



## Bwv 1080

This is from Stanislau Mattei's book of Partimento from around 1800, am I reading this right? Diatonic root position 7th chords up through the 6th degree, followed by some augmented chords on the chromatic decent (the 6 on the Ab for example)?









https://ks.imslp.net/files/imglnks/usimg/3/32/IMSLP670410-PMLP1075807-Mattei_Pratica_Ricordi.pdf


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## EdwardBast

Yes, except I don't see any augmented chords. The Ab would support an F minor triad, the Eb a C minor triad. I couldn't resist doing a fast and dirty realization (with halved note values). Hope there aren't too many gaffs. Oops, guess the Eb in m.6 should be E natural, the Eb coming on the downbeat of m.7:


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## Bwv 1080

OK that makes sense, was thinking you held the C and E then moved A down chromatically to Ab, which would have given an aug triad - sounded pretty good then going to V7

the 5 7th chords are tricky to avoid parallel 5ths, but its a strange exercise following some standard rule of the octave stuff- where would you find this in CP music?


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## Haydn70

EdwardBast said:


> Yes, except I don't see any augmented chords. The Ab would support an F minor triad, the Eb a C minor triad. I couldn't resist doing a fast and dirty realization (with halved note values). Hope there aren't too many gaffs. Oops, guess the Eb in m.6 should be E natural, the Eb coming on the downbeat of m.7:
> 
> View attachment 156844


Well, to get a bit picky there is no third in the first chord of the second measure (e mi7).

Here is my bare bones solution for the first four measures.

My first measure is the same as EdwardBast's but for the e mi7 chord I have the soprano step up the g to get the third of the chord.

The movement from the F7 to the G7 might be considered wrong in that the bass and tenor voices move from a P5 to a mi7 (P12 to mi14 to be exact)...direct 7ths???????


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## EdwardBast

Bwv 1080 said:


> the 5 7th chords are tricky to avoid parallel 5ths, but its a strange exercise following some standard rule of the octave stuff- where would you find this in CP music?


I don't know what practical issues the exercise was meant to address. I just applied the tried and true "make the other voices descend against a scalar ascent in the bass." The 7ths increase the general downward pressure and make this solution more practical.



Haydn70 said:


> Well, to get a bit picky there is no third in the first chord of the second measure (e mi7).


That's not picky, and it's an easy fix: alto should descend to G. (You did the easy part )


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## Bwv 1080

Here is a 4 note solution for the 5 7th chords using guitar grips

x3x553 - xx0211 - xx2030 - xx3255 - xx5431 - xx7585


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## Bwv 1080

Here is the meat of the exercises - realizations of the four short partmenti on the same page, ideally they should be improvised at sight rather than painstakingly written out


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## EdwardBast

Hey Haydn 70 — Isn't it funny how we automatically start writing in four parts without any prompting? In three part writing, as in those partimento exercises, one can dispense with the pointless doubling and those useless, diluting 5ths in the 7th chords. Lean and clean.


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## Bwv 1080

EdwardBast said:


> I don't know what practical issues the exercise was meant to address. I just applied the tried and true "make the other voices descend against a scalar ascent in the bass."


In general, the rule of the octave mandates only the 1st and 5th scale degrees get 5-3 chords, which eliminates most of the potential for parallel 5ths

curious though how you would write connecting dim chords, say C-E-G to C#-E-G, just a b5 over the C#?


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## EdwardBast

Bwv 1080 said:


> In general, the rule of the octave mandates only the 1st and 5th scale degrees get 5-3 chords, which eliminates most of the potential for parallel 5ths
> 
> curious though how you would write connecting dim chords, say C-E-G to C#-E-G, just a b5 over the C#?


If I understand correctly what you're asking, with the C# in the bass there would be no figure required since it would be a diatonic third and fifth above.


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## Xtarich

*Am I writing figured bass right?*

Dear all, I am trying to add figured bass but I don't really know the best way. Below are PDFs for the score, and two versions of the figured bass part. I'm not sure how specific I have to be with all the suspensions and passing notes. Another thing I am confused about is whether to represent the passing notes as being one chord with changing intervals in a voice (using a horizontal line). If someone could kindly scan through what I've done and give some feedback that would be terrific thanks!
Regards, Xavier

View attachment slow_movement_trio_sonata_I-Harpsichord_1.pdf
View attachment slow_movement_trio_sonata_I-Harpsichord_2.pdf
View attachment slow_movement_trio_sonata_I.pdf


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