Exercise

Bass 275 — Supertonic seventh

Non-dominant seventhsC major

Corpus id bass-275 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The supertonic seventh, root position and 6/5: the pre-dominant workhorse, its seventh prepared as a common tone and falling into the dominant’s third.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Bass	C3		D3	G2	C3		F3	G3	C3
Figures			7				6/5

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	G4	F4	G4	G4	A4	G4	G4
Alto	E4	D4	D4	E4	D4	D4	E4
Tenor	C4	C4	B3	C4	C4	B3	C4
Bass	C3	D3	G2	C3	F3	G3	C3
Figures		7			6/5

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

The supertonic seventh is the dominant’s herald: its seventh is the tonic degree itself, prepared as a common tone, striking against the moving bass, and falling onto the leading tone — the very tone that will demand the tonic back. Root position and 6/5 figure the same four tones from different floors; the obligation does not move.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The tenor tells the whole story twice: C prepared, C become a seventh, C falling to B, C restored. Two spellings of the same chord, one obligated tone. Carry it into G major, F major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-275 — Supertonic seventh. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-275

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-275

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