Exercise

Bass 266 — Picardy third at the Phrygian close

Minor-mode specificsG minor

Corpus id bass-266 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The Phrygian question and the brightened answer: the half-step fall onto the dominant leaves the phrase open, and the reply closes it on a major tonic.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5		bar 6
Bass	G2		G3	E♭3	D3		B♭2	C3	D3		G2
Figures				6	#		6		#		#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3	bar 4		bar 5	bar 6
Soprano	B♭4	B♭4	C5	D5	D5	E♭5	D5	D5
Alto	D4	D4	G4	F♯4	G4	G4	F♯4	G4
Tenor	G3	G3	G3	A3	G3	C4	A3	B3
Bass	G2	G3	E♭3	D3	B♭2	C3	D3	G2
Figures			6	#	6		#	#

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

The Phrygian close makes its two semitones — the sixth degree falling onto the dominant in the bass, the tonic pressing onto the leading tone above — and stops, a question mark in minor’s own handwriting. The answering phrase walks the same ground home, and the ♯ under the last bass note turns the arrival major: the Picardy third as the final word of a minor argument.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. Two half-step falls onto D — E flat in the bass, then E flat in the soprano — and at the very end B natural instead of B flat. The question is asked in minor’s darkest colors; the answer is brighter than the question deserved. Carry it into D minor, C minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-266 — Picardy third at the Phrygian close. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-266

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-266

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