Exercise

Bass 294 — Monte, Fonte, Ponte

SchemataC major

Corpus id bass-294 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The three formulas in their native order: the Monte climbs to the dominant, the Ponte stands on it as the double bar, and the Fonte re-finds the tonic on the far side.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5		bar 6		bar 7		bar 8
Bass	C3	C3	F3	D3	G2	G2	G2		C3	C♯3	D3	B2	C3	G2	C3
Figures		b7		7/#	6/4	7	7			6/5		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		bar 6		bar 7		bar 8
Soprano	G4	G4	F4	F♯4	G4	G4	G4	G4	G4	F4	F4	E4	D4	E4
Alto	E4	E4	C4	C4	C4	B3	B3	C4	A3	A3	G3	G3	B3	G3
Tenor	C4	B♭3	A3	A3	E3	F3	F3	E3	E3	D3	D3	C3	D3	C3
Bass	C3	C3	F3	D3	G2	G2	G2	C3	C♯3	D3	B2	C3	G2	C3
Figures		b7		7/#	6/4	7	7		6/5		6/5

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

The formulas were never three curiosities; they are the three jobs a phrase’s middle can do. The Monte climbs — do–fa, re–sol — and delivers the bass to the dominant; the Ponte holds that dominant open, gathering its seventh, until the section ends in suspense; and the Fonte answers from the far side, stepping down into shadow and out again onto the tonic. One exercise, one small binary form, three names worth knowing.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. Riepel’s whole map in eight bars: climb, stand, descend, close. Mark the double bar in your mind at the long dominant seventh — everything before it asks, everything after it answers. Carry it into G major, F major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-294 — Monte, Fonte, Ponte. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-294

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-294

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