Exercise

Bass 310 — German sixth in major

Chromatic figuresC major

Corpus id bass-310 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

The German sixth in major, where the spelling needs both hands: ♯6 for the raised tone, ♭5 for the borrowed one — two signs, one chord, approached by the bass’s own chromatic fall.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4
Bass	C3		A2	A♭2	G2	G2	C3
Figures				#6/b5	6/4

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
Soprano	E4	E4	F♯4	G4	G4	G4
Alto	C4	C4	E♭4	E4	D4	E4
Tenor	G3	A3	C4	C4	B3	C4
Bass	C3	A2	A♭2	G2	G2	C3
Figures			#6/b5	6/4

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

Major must borrow the flat side to build this chord at all — ♭6̂ in the bass, ♭3̂ under the ♭5 figure — while the ♯6 rises from the sharp side, so the figures carry both signs at once. The bass inflects A to A♭ in its own line, the augmented sixth closes outward onto G, and the borrowed E♭ resolves the way all mixture does: back into the major third it displaced, in the voice that borrowed it.

At the keyboard

The three upper voices of the model realization fit under one hand. Count the chromatic moves: the bass slides A to A flat, the soprano lifts E to F sharp, and after the spring the alto un-borrows E flat back to E natural. Every one stays in its own voice. Carry it into G major, F major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-310 — German sixth in major. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-310

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-310

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