(It., abbreviation of basso continuo , ‘continuous bass’; Ger.: Generalbass) [thoroughbass]. A term meaning either the group of instruments (or single instrument) used to provide the bass line in a musical work or the notated bass line from which those instruments play, in which case it is more accurately called the basso continuo.
1. Introduction Though still used in subsequent periods for special purposes (e.g. recitative in opera), continuo belongs above all to the Baroque era as one of its most important defining characteristics. The bass line, properly speaking when it is ‘figured’ (i.e. with sets of numerals appended), was also known as thoroughbass or bassus generalis , indicating both its ‘continuity’ and pervading presence. This bass, when ‘realized’, completes the harmonic part of the polyphonic whole by supplying chords and contrapuntal extras notated only in shorthand in the score. The realization of the continuo by various, originally mainly unspecified, instruments is a serious performance issue which affects not only the sound but the entire interpretation of a musical work. Instruments capable of playing polyphonically, namely harpsichord, organ, and plucked strings (lute, guitar, lyra viol, etc.), would realize the figures (the harmony), while others (e.g. cello, bassoon, violone) would reinforce the bass line. Although we know in general what constituted a continuo group, in no case do we know what specific combination of instruments was used for a particular piece or how it was used. Iconographic evidence, contemporary records, and individual composers, however, do give some clues to what is required in certain works. But there is by no means any uniformity. Almost without exception, written continuo parts, whether figured or not, do not distinguish between the keyboard player and the singleline bass players. In essence, the characteristic of the continuo is entirely dependent on its realization. Little indication is provided about its instrumentation.
2. History The prerequisite for the evolution of the continuo was the increasing tendency in the early 17th century towards bass-upwards harmony, and the contrapuntal orientation of treble melody and bass. During the late 16th century, instruments came increasingly to be used to accompany polyphonic choral works, mainly doubling the voice parts. Organs were nearly always present in church music, as manuscript sources indicate. In the first decade of the 17th century, bass (organ) parts began to be printed separately from the voices, as in Viadana's Cento concerti ecclesiastici … con il basso continuo ( 1602 )—the first publication to use the term ‘basso continuo’. Although the organ part incorporates much of the vocal line it accompanies, it also acts as a continuous instrumental ‘voice’, not dependent on the solo vocal part (Ex. 1). In Monteverdi's fifth book of madrigals ( 1605 ) the publisher has wrung a continuo bass out of him, in response to current fashion starting with Luzzaschi's Madrigali per cantare et sonare ( 1601 ), but it mostly doubles the vocal part ( basso seguente ) and is therefore not a proper continuo bass.
Viadana, Exaudi me Domine (Cento concerti ecclesiastici). The practice of printing a separate bass part was to have far-reaching consequences, including the eventual disintegration of the polyphonic Renaissance madrigal and the emergence of the new concertato madrigal, notably in Monteverdi's sixth book ( 1614 ). Meanwhile continuo-accompanied monody (influenced by the Florentine camerata), in which the solo voice with its word-expressive capability was harmonically supported by the continuo, was developed by Caccini ( c. 1550 – 1618 ) and d'India ( 1580 – 1629 ) (see Ex. 2). These monodies, when transferred to opera, gave rise to the declamatory aria for solo voice and continuo alone. This texture was also crucial to what became known as recitativo secco (see recitative), in which the unmetred vocal line accompanied only by the basso continuo advanced the dramatic content (see Ex. 3).
Caccini, opening of Sfogava con le stelle.
Montever di, recitative from L'incoronazione di Poppea. Another important province of the continuo was the sonata notated for one, two, or sometimes three solo voices or melody instruments (e.g. violins, recorders), or both, with bass, for example Nigra sum , Pulchra es, and Duo seraphim in Monteverdi's Vespers ( 1610 ). This evolved into the solo sonata and trio sonata of the later Baroque,
the latter being emblematic of the period. In Corelli's concerti grossi the trio-sonata instrumentation of two violins and continuo was used for the concertino sections, contrasting with the full string ensemble. The continuo became an important feature of both the concerto grosso and the solo concerto. By the 1650s it was integral to virtually all Baroque ensemble music, whether sacred or secular. Only in archaic pieces (e.g. Purcell's viol fantasias of the 1680s) and in such exceptional works as Bach's motets is the continuo absent. Elsewhere it is all-pervading until the 1750s. The decline in importance of the basso continuo is evident in the increasing number of pieces with notated four-part texture or with non-harmonic accompanying bass from the earlier part of the 18th century. This can be seen especially in orchestral music (early Haydn ) and in solo sonatas (e.g. Bach, sonata for violin and harpsichord bwv1016). The string quartet began to displace the trio sonata, and the continuo texture was superseded by the galant -style melody with bass accompaniment. It is noticeable that in the improvisatory years of the Baroque period a significant part of the art of continuo playing was sensitivity to how solo instruments or voices, or both, ornamented their parts. Consequently, the demise of the continuo and the end of extempore ornamentation were more or less contemporaneous. Ads by Google Bristow Bows UK Bow specialist for violin, viola cello & bass. Sales rehairs repairs www.bristowbows.co.uk Pez Urbano 50-90% OFF ¡Registrate y Recibí las Mejores Ofertas en Cines, Shows y Eventos! Pezurbano.com.ar/Registrate Instrument Repair Online 5 Instrument Repair Experts Online! Ask a Question, Get an Answer ASAP JustAnswer.com/Instrument-Repair ABLE Instruments High quality process instruments and customer service only from ABLE www.able.co.uk/genuine/ In the Classical period the continuo lost favour except in opera and oratorios, where it was still used in recitatives. Mozart's masses contain continuo parts. The direction ‘senza cembalo’ at certain points in Haydn's The Creation implies that a keyboard instrument is used elsewhere and is essential in the recitatives. Evidence from the Salomon concerts in London in the 1790s suggests that Haydn directed his symphonies from the fortepiano. Several of Mozart's piano concertos include figured continuo basses. And when Spohr went to London to conduct the Philharmonic Society concerts in the 1820s he was placed, at least initially, ‘at the fortepiano’. The first print of Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 1 has continuo figurings under the bass part, implying, as in the case of the Mozart concertos, that the soloist might function as a continuo player during the orchestral passages. Continuo did not die out completely in the 19th century: it is found, for example, in Italian opera recitative or such church music as Bruckner's Requiem ( 1849 ), in which the organ part is figured. Neo-classical uses of
the continuo for recitative in the 20th century include Britten's Cantata academica ( 1960 , piano) and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress ( 1951 , piano).
3. Instrumentation For the most part continuo instruments are not specified. Exceptionally, Monteverdi indicates harpsichords, chitarroni, harp, regals, and two organi di legno in his opera Orfeo ( 1607 ) following the practice of late 16th-century music for weddings and other festivities. Agostino Agazzari notes in his Del sonare sopra il basso ( 1607 ) that there were two kinds of continuo instrument: the ‘Instruments of Foundation’, or harmony instruments (e.g. organ, cembalo, lute, theorbo); and ‘elaborating instruments’ (cittern, chitarrone, harp, mandore, lirone, etc.). Later commentators observe that the bass viol, cello, bassoon, dulcian, trombone, or violone may reinforce the continuo bass. Throughout the Baroque era a harmony instrument on its own or in combination with an elaborating instrument or two would realize the continuo. Small groups, according to contemporaneous commentary, were more common. The culmination of the basso continuo tradition is arguably seen in the works of J. S. Bach , who also represents the end of the Baroque compositional style based on the thoroughbass. Questions of correct practice in Bach continuo performance are frequently revisited. Which keyboard instrument is to be used, organ or harpsichord? The received wisdom—organ for church and harpsichord for chamber—is now seriously challenged and clear delineations redefined. When should we use cello, bassoon, or violone? Did such instruments as the lute, viol, or violoncello piccolo play a role as continuo instruments? There are no definitive answers, but evidence from documents, parts, and scores gives some indicators. The organ is predominant in church works, but that does not rule out the harpsichord. All the doubling bass instruments occur, but there is no standardized procedure. Certain instruments, for example the lute and viol, are used for special, often symbolic, purposes whereas others, notably the cello, become the conventional doubling bass instrument, particularly during the last period of Bach's life at Leipzig.
4. Realizing a figured bass This can be a dry, mathematical exercise, as generations of music students have found while wrestling with artificial figured-bass keyboard tests. In performance, however, true art and invention can be shown as the player becomes musically involved in the contrapuntal and harmonic intricacies of the ensemble. Continuo playing requires spontaneity, discretion, and imagination. The style and manner of playing should be in keeping with function, location, date of the music, and the composer's individual traits. The general principle of the figured bass is for the numerals to indicate the essential intervals above the bass, giving a clue as to the chord required. In early 17th-century basses, intervals are sometimes specified literally, e.g. as ‘11’ (as in Peri's Euridice , 1600 ), which later became ‘4’ when compounds were not indicated and numbers above 9 not used. In general the 5th and 3rd were to be assumed when not indicated. No numbers meant a chord in root position. An accidental by itself referred to the (major or minor) 3rd of the chord. When linked with other figures it indicated the inflection of that interval. An occasional horizontal line under a series of notes directed the player
not to change the harmony. ‘Tasto solo’ is an instruction to play only the bass line without realizing the harmony (Ex. 4).
Handel, ‘Amen’, Messiah. Various 18th-century treatises and manuals attempt to describe the art of continuo playing. Perhaps the most famous is in part 2 of C. P. E. Bach's Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen ( 1762 ). Earlier German treatises, in which guidance on how to embellish the realized harmonies of the continuo was provided, were largely influenced by Heinichen's Neu erfundene und gründliche Anweisung (Hamburg, 1711 ) and Der Generalbass in der Composition (Dresden, 1728 ). For the Italian Baroque, the most useful is Francesco Gasparini's L'armonico pratico al cimbalo ( 1708 ). Among the numerous French treatises and manuals, Denis Delair's Traité d'accompagnement pour le théorbe, et le clavessin ( 1690 ) and D'Anglebert's ‘Principes de l'accompagnement’ in his Pièces de clavecin ( 1689 ) are the most lucid and valuable contributions to the art of idiomatic keyboard continuo playing. Nicolo Pasquali's Thorough-Bass Made Easy ( 1763 ) for the most part justifies its title with its basic exercises and simple realizations of song and secco recitative (Ex. 5).
Nicolo Pasquali, Thorough-Bass Made Easy.
