Exercise

Bass 211 — Plagal cadence

Cadence formulasC major

Corpus id bass-211 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The plagal close in its native position — after the true close: the subdominant settles onto the tonic with the tonic held as a common tone.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Bass	C3		F3	G3	C3		F3		C3

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3	bar 4	bar 5
Soprano	E4	F4	D4	C4	C4	C4
Alto	C4	C4	B3	G3	A3	G3
Tenor	G3	A3	G3	E3	F3	E3
Bass	C3	F3	G3	C3	F3	C3

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

There is no leading tone in the plagal close — nothing strains — which is why it sounds like assent rather than arrival. The authentic close makes the ending; the subdominant then confirms it, the tonic held above while the inner voices fall by step.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The soprano does not move for the last three chords. Everything under the held tonic is confirmation, not motion. Carry it into G major, F major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-211 — Plagal cadence. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-211

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-211

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