Exercise

Bass 259 — The diminished triad in first inversion

Minor-mode specificsA minor

Corpus id bass-259 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The diminished triad in its home position: standing on its third, figured ♯6, the bass doubled and both restless tones resolving by step.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	A2		B2	C3	D3	E3	A2
Figures			#6	6		#

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
Soprano	C5	B4	A4	A4	G♯4	A4
Alto	E4	D4	E4	D4	B3	C4
Tenor	A3	G♯3	A3	F3	E3	E3
Bass	A2	B2	C3	D3	E3	A2
Figures		#6	6		#

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

The diminished triad avoids its own root: standing on the third, with that third doubled, its two restless tones — the leading tone and the diminished fifth above it — each have one step to make, and the doubled tone is the one under no obligation. The tenor’s G♯ rises into the tonic exactly as the figure ♯6 promised it would.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. The soprano doubles the bass at the diminished chord — the one tone in it with nowhere urgent to go. Feel the two outer fingers holding the frame while G sharp leans underneath. Carry it into D minor, E minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-259 — The diminished triad in first inversion. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-259

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-259

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