Exercise

Bass 307 — Italian sixth

Chromatic figuresA minor

Corpus id bass-307 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The Italian sixth: ♯6 over the sixth degree, the third doubled, and the augmented interval closing outward — bass down a semitone, raised tone up one — onto the dominant’s octave.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	A2		D3	F3	E3		A2
Figures				#6	#

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

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3	bar 4
Soprano	E4	F4	A4	G♯4	A4
Alto	C4	D4	D♯4	E4	E4
Tenor	A3	A3	A3	B3	C4
Bass	A2	D3	F3	E3	A2
Figures			#6	#

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

The alto’s D becomes D♯ in its own line — the inflection stays home, as chromatic motion must — and the interval it makes with the bass is the point: an augmented sixth, two made leading tones facing opposite ways. The bass falls its semitone, the ♯6 rises its own, and they land an octave apart on the dominant. The doubled third takes no side and moves both ways at the resolution.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Two semitones closing in opposite directions at once: F falling in the left hand, D sharp rising under the right. The augmented sixth exists to spring open onto the octave. Carry it into D minor, E minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-307 — Italian sixth. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-307

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-307

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