Exercise

Bass 199 — Bass in fourths

First inversion (6)Bb major

Corpus id bass-199 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

A bass of fourths that Stage 1 could have set — but the figures now make its middle chords sixth chords, and the harmony tells a different story.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1	bar 2	bar 3	bar 4	bar 5	bar 6
Bass	B♭2	E♭3	B♭2	E♭3	F3	B♭2
Figures		6	6

The given bass and its figures (Bb major, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2	bar 3	bar 4	bar 5	bar 6
Soprano	D4	C4	D4	E♭4	C4	D4
Alto	B♭3	G3	G3	B♭3	A3	B♭3
Tenor	F3	E♭3	D3	G3	F3	F3
Bass	B♭2	E♭3	B♭2	E♭3	F3	B♭2
Figures		6	6

The model realization (Bb major, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

Under plain triads this bass would rock between tonic and subdominant. The two 6 figures replace that with a falling chain — supertonic, then submediant — before the subdominant arrives in earnest. Same leaps, different journey: the figures, not the bass, name where the harmony stands.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The left hand plays a Stage 1 bass. The right hand plays what the figures actually say — which is not what Stage 1 said. Carry it into F major, Eb major, C major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-199 — Bass in fourths. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-199

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-199

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