Exercise

Bass 317 — Unfigured: cadence recognition

Unfigured bassG majorunfigured bass

Corpus id bass-317 · cite this id — it is permanent

What it teaches

A bare running bass with three formulas hidden in it: the leading tone asking for its 6, the 5̂-to-6̂ step that means deception, and the dominant that needs its 7 at the close.

The given bass

4/4	bar 1		bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Bass	G2		B2	C3	D3	E3	C3	D3	G2
Figures			6					7

The given bass — unfigured: the student supplies the figures (G major, 4/4; ⌒ = tied from the previous note)

The model realization

4/4	bar 1	bar 2		bar 3		bar 4		bar 5
Soprano	G4	G4	G4	F♯4	G4	G4	F♯4	G4
Alto	D4	D4	E4	D4	B3	C4	C4	B3
Tenor	B3	D4	C4	A3	G3	E3	D3	D3
Bass	G2	B2	C3	D3	E3	C3	D3	G2
Figures		6					7

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

An unfigured bass is read by its scale degrees: the leading tone never carries a 5/3, so the second note writes its own 6; the step up from the dominant where a close was due is the deceptive formula, doubled third and all; and the returning dominant takes the 7 that makes the last close final. The student who knows the formulas writes the figures the composer left silent.

At the keyboard

This realization is choral — the upper voices exceed a single hand’s span. Three decisions decide the exercise: the leading tone in the bass can only carry a 6; the bass rising 5̂ to 6̂ at a phrase’s end can only mean the deception; and the last dominant wants its seventh. Everything else is plain. Carry it into C major, D major.

Voice-leading patterns this exercise drills

Cite this exercise

Gradus Figured-Bass Corpus, bass-317 — Unfigured: cadence recognition. v1.0. https://gradusmusic.com/figured-bass-corpus/exercise/bass-317

Corpus v1.0 · licensed CC-BY-4.0 · machine-readable at /api/v1/figured-bass/exercises/bass-317

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