Exercise

Bass 206 — Double cadence, minor

Cadence formulasA minor

Corpus id bass-206 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The double cadence in minor, where the ritual’s last station is the sharp: the suspended fourth resolves onto the raised third that makes the dominant real.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Bass	A2		D3		E3	E3	E3	E3	A2
Figures					#	6/4	4	#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2	bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Soprano	C5	D5	B4	C5	B4	B4	A4
Alto	A4	A4	G♯4	A4	A4	G♯4	E4
Tenor	E4	F4	E4	E4	E4	E4	C4
Bass	A2	D3	E3	E3	E3	E3	A2
Figures			#	6/4	4	#

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

In minor the ritual ends where the mode’s whole cadence problem lives: the suspended fourth falls onto the raised third, so the last two figures — 4, then ♯ — spell out the manufacture of the leading tone in real time.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The alto walks the whole ritual alone: G sharp, then A at the six-four, held on as the suspension, back to G sharp. One finger tells the story. Carry it into E minor, D minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-206 — Double cadence, minor. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-206

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-206

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