Exercise

Bass 306 — Neapolitan sixth (second key)

Chromatic figuresD minor

Corpus id bass-306 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The Neapolitan in D minor: E♭ under the ♭6 figure, the fourth degree doubled beneath it, and the same stepwise descent through the six-four onto C♯.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	D3		G3		A3	A3	D3
Figures			b6		6/4	#

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
Soprano	D5	E♭5	D5	C♯5	D5
Alto	A4	B♭4	A4	A4	A4
Tenor	F4	G4	F4	E4	F4
Bass	D3	G3	A3	A3	D3
Figures		b6	6/4	#

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

The figures double the bass — the fourth degree, the one tone with no chromatic obligation — while E♭ sounds the flattened second above. Then the machine of the close takes over: the six-four displaces, the ♯ resolves, and the soprano’s E♭–D–C♯ spells out in three notes why this chord belongs to the cadence and nowhere else.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. The chord under the hand is an ordinary major triad — E flat major — standing in a key that owns none of its brightness. That borrowed calm a half step above the tonic is the whole Neapolitan effect. Carry it into A minor, G minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-306 — Neapolitan sixth (second key). v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-306

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-306

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