Today I posted a Telemann trio sonata for alto recorder, oboe and B.C. (Basso Continuo) which is a favorite of mine (TWV42:c2). It occurred to me to say something about what Basso Continuo means, as it was certainly a new concept to me not all that long ago.
If you watch a video of this or any other trio sonata on YouTube you will see 4 players, but it is a trio, so what is that about? Well, Telemann wrote out 3 parts, one for recorder, oboe and a bass line; hence it is a trio. However, the bass line is what is called a "figured bass" (also a thoroughbass); there are figures under some of the bass notes that indicate the chord that is in effect at that moment. There must be an instrument capable of playing chords to "realize" the figured bass; that is, to play the music as conceived by the composer. The bass line is often played by a bass viola da gamba or sometimes a bassoon. The fourth instrument (usually a harpsichord, but any instrument that can play chords will work), reads the figured bass line and fills in the chords extemporaneously according to the rules for a figured bass. This skill is not common today and so contemporary music will include a keyboard part, called a "realization of the figured bass", written by someone for the publication. If you look for a piece on IMSLP that has a Basso Continuo part, it will not include a realization of the figured bass. This is because the composer did not provide one; it was expected that the keyboard player would improvise it, very much like a contemporary jazz musician!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Author
Formerly a successful software engineer and then Mathematics instructor, I am now retired and keep busy as an amateur musician of early music. Archives
August 2021
Categories
All
|