Exercise

Bass 264 — Diminished seventh 6/5

Minor-mode specificsD minor

Corpus id bass-264 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The diminished seventh’s 6/5, standing on the second degree: struck twice, once falling to the tonic root and once rising to its first inversion — the tritones bending to fit.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Bass	D3		E3	D3	E3	F3	G3	A3	D3
Figures			#6/5		#6/5	6		#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Soprano	F4	G4	F4	G4	A4	G4	E4	F4
Alto	D4	C♯4	D4	C♯4	D4	D4	C♯4	D4
Tenor	A3	B♭3	A3	B♭3	A3	B♭3	A3	A3
Bass	D3	E3	D3	E3	F3	G3	A3	D3
Figures		#6/5		#6/5	6		#

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

Standing on its third, the diminished seventh may leave by either door: bass down a step to the root-position tonic, or up a step to the first inversion. The obligations above do not change — C♯ rises, B♭ falls — only the destination of the frame. The second strike’s rising exit lets the soprano keep climbing while the chord resolves under it.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The long figure reads from the top: sharp six, five. The sharp is C sharp — the chord’s buried root — and the same hand shape resolves two different ways as the bass chooses its exit. Carry it into A minor, G minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-264 — Diminished seventh 6/5. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-264

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-264

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