Exercise

Bass 215 — Evaded cadence

Cadence formulasC major

Corpus id bass-215 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The evaded cadence, first form: the dominant passes its seventh into the bass, which must then fall by step — the arrival lands on the tonic’s first inversion and cannot end anything.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	C3	G3	F3	E3	F3	G3	C3
Figures			4/2	6

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
Soprano	G4	G4	G4	G4	A4	G4	E4
Alto	E4	D4	D4	C4	F4	D4	C4
Tenor	C4	B3	B3	C4	C4	B3	G3
Bass	C3	G3	F3	E3	F3	G3	C3
Figures			4/2	6

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

The bass takes the chordal seventh itself — the 4/2 — and inherits its obligation: it must fall by step, and the fall lands on the first inversion, a chord that cannot close. Nothing is wrong; the ending is simply withheld, and the phrase continues until a real cadence pays the debt.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Only the left hand moves at the evasion: the upper voices hold still while the bass slips down through the seventh. Feel how the ending dissolves rather than breaks. Carry it into G major, F major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-215 — Evaded cadence. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-215

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-215

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