Exercise

Bass 308 — French sixth

Chromatic figuresA minor

Corpus id bass-308 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The French sixth: the full stack ♯6/4/3 — the Italian chord plus the second degree — approached from the subdominant’s own first inversion by sharpening one tone.

The given bass

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

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	A4	A4	B4	C5	B4	A4
Alto	E4	D4	D♯4	E4	E4	C4
Tenor	C4	A3	A3	A3	G♯3	E3
Bass	A2	F3	F3	E3	E3	A2
Figures		6	#6/4/3	6/4	#

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

The French chord is the Italian with the second degree added — ♯6/4/3 names all three tones above the bass — and this realization builds it the honest way: the iv6 stands first, then its sixth is raised in the alto’s own line while the soprano supplies the 4. The augmented sixth closes outward into the six-four; the tone the French chord adds simply rides through and becomes the 6/4’s sixth.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. One finger sharpens and the chord changes nationality: the subdominant’s sixth chord becomes French when D becomes D sharp and B joins the stack. Read the long figure from the top: sharp six, four, three. Carry it into D minor, E minor.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-308 — French sixth. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-308

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-308

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