What Is Partimento? Historic Improvisation Explained

This segment discusses the decline of Neapolitan conservatory standards after the deaths of Leo (1744) and Durante (1755). The host explains that tensions between the schools increased after their deaths, with students of these masters competing for influence. German journalists in the 1770s reported that the level in the Neapolitan conservatory was 'absolutely not as good as expected,' attributing the decline to the absence of the sharpest heads (Leo and Durante). The host explains that Leo and Durante were around in Naples for many decades, so they knew each other's music and appreciated each other's compositions. The idea that one conservatory became a 'Leo conservatory' and others became 'Durante conservatories' only applies to the period after their deaths. In the 1790s, there were efforts to restore the old contrapuntal style, with the first librarian of the Conservatory Library writing to the king complaining about the situation. The restoration included adding fugues by old Neapolitan composers like Venetiano, GCO, and Leo to the Durante materials, some so old (connected to 1685) that Durante was hardly even born. The host also explores Nicola Kalandro's partimenti as an example of the middle ground between the Leo and Durante traditions, explaining that Kalandro's partimenti show characteristics of the Leo tradition, including fugue-like structures, but his teacher was Fo, who was a student of Nicola Fargo (Leo's teacher), placing Kalandro in the same lineage as Leo.

Nicola Sala represents a unique case among counterpoint masters, with three autographs of his partimenti surviving, enabling modern editions of approximately 190 pieces. Analysis reveals sequential patterns where figures repeat one step lower, demonstrating motivic development techniques. Advanced training involved analyzing whether themes could enter as upper voices over existing bass lines, developing double counterpoint fluency. Students practiced remembering baseline material and creating variations when themes returned in new keys. The distinction between natural and artificial dissonance originated in the 17th century, not solely from Rameau. Natural dissonances (tritones, dominant sevenths) appeared in the harmonic series and required no preparation, while artificial dissonances needed resolution. The Durante school emphasized melody-making and operatic accompaniment using partimento, while the Leo school focused on fugue improvisation and double counterpoint. Each school compensated for the other's limitations: Durante used solfeggio for melodic fluency, while Leo used partimento for contrapuntal skills.

This video presents one possible realization of partimento 13 in D major, cataloged as Gj 1343, from Book 4 of the partimento collection by maestro Fedele Fenaroli (1730–1818). Partimenti are bass lines or harmonic frameworks used in 18th-century Italian music pedagogy to train students in improvisation, counterpoint, and harmonic progression. Fenaroli’s partimenti were foundational in the training of composers and performers at Neapolitan conservatories. The realization demonstrated in the video interprets the given bass line with appropriate voice leading, harmonic filling, and stylistic ornamentation consistent with the practices of the time. The video does not provide step-by-step instruction but assumes familiarity with partimento rules and schemata. Viewers are directed to the author’s blog, essaysonmusic.com, for further study of partimenti, regole (rules), and harmonic schemata, suggesting the content is intended for those already engaged with historical performance practice or music theory research. The realization serves as an example of how a concise bass line can be expanded into a full keyboard composition using period-appropriate techniques.

Italian partimenti are keyboard teaching exercises from the Neapolitan school that use simplified musical notation to teach harmonic principles and improvisation, as demonstrated in this performance of works by Francesco Durante and Giovanni Alberto Ristori.

The second block of the workshop explores classical partimento works from historical sources. Students examine works by Feneroli, Zingarelli, and Durante, as well as Handel's baselines. This exposure connects the practical skills learned in the first block with authentic historical examples, demonstrating how the rules of partimento were applied in actual musical compositions from the Baroque and Classical periods.

Ars diminutionum (the art of diminution) refers to subdividing longer rhythmic values into shorter, more elaborate patterns, also called variations, glosas, or differences. This technique was fundamental to Baroque improvisation, particularly for keyboard instruments. The speaker explains that composers often improvised extensively before committing work to paper, and written music was often less detailed than what performers would actually play. In late 16th century Spain, ornamentation was called glosas or diferencias, terms used interchangeably. Glosas were instrumental or vocal embellishments of melodies, often based on vocal songs. Composers like Antonio de Cabezon and Diego Ortiz were key figures. This tradition created independence between vocal and instrumental music, allowing musicians to create their own instrumental versions of vocal works.

In the Neapolitan partimento tradition, imitation serves as a crucial embellishment technique that transforms basic accompaniment into more interesting musical textures; this requires understanding the underlying rhythmic structure (typically 16th notes) and applying double counterpoint, where the slow and fast parts are interchanged between hands, while diminution involves transforming chordal frames into instrument-appropriate figurations that enhance the musical realization.

Glosa is a form of ornamentation involving improvisation where performers add musical fragments where composers have not written music. This was known in Spain as 'calderones cantantes' (singing calderons). Diminution (diminuir) involves writing sections with more notes than the original, creating more elaborate versions. In the 15th century, the 'gallarda precedente pl. diminué' shows how a section of 16 compasses can be transformed into a more ornamented version with increased note density. These techniques represent a more free and personal approach to ornamentation compared to written ornaments.

Melodic diminutions involve elaborating a basic melodic contour (where the soprano moves up a step when the bass moves down a third, and vice versa) through various variations while maintaining the fundamental two-voice schema; the red-marked notes in the demonstration represent the core melodic pattern that is replicated across different diminution versions.

Diminution is the reverse of augmentation, where rhythmic values are halved. In 'Resurrections,' the 1-2-flat-3 motif from the previous section returns as a syncopated synth bass part dropping a couple octaves lower and squeezed into a sixteenth note rhythm through diminution. This creates an amazing drive that propels the song forward, demonstrating how rhythmic compression can intensify musical material.

Improvisable forms progress in complexity: (1) Baroque unmeasured preludes—freely arpeggiated outside meter, requiring only harmonic knowledge; (2) Figured preludes like Welltemperiertes Klavier—repeating patterns consistent even as harmony changes; (3) Variations—manageable due to repeating harmonic patterns; (4) Short dance forms like minuets—clear harmonic structure; (5) Free-form works like toccatas; (6) Fugues and sonatas—most ambitious, requiring extensive preparation.

Classical music is often perceived as non-improvisational because it involves reading sheet music, but this is a misconception. During the Baroque period, legendary composers like Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin were exceptional improvisers. Baroque keyboard music was mostly improvised, with harpsichordists and organists required to improvise codas, preludes, and fugues. A fugue is a complex musical form centered around a 'subject' (main theme) that is played once by itself, then transposed to different keys while other voices play accompanying parts. This creates counterpoint, where multiple distinct melodies play simultaneously. Fugues can have varying numbers of voices, with each voice entering sequentially and eventually playing the main theme transposed to its key.

Partimento serves as the crucial bridge between structured continuo and spontaneous improvisation. It involves a bass line with figures but requires the student to provide the upper voices, creating a middle ground between fully written repertoire and complete improvisation. Fux's 'Gradus ad Parnassum' is a highly recommended counterpoint textbook. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is considered the 'Old Testament of music' and can be used as daily practice material. Bach's two-part inventions are excellent for learning composition because they contain multiple compositional elements in a compact form. Pasquini's 'Versetti' are excellent for learning fugal expositions. The progression from basic continuo to partimento to improvisation provides a clear pathway from structured repertoire to spontaneous creation.

Fugue improvisation is learnable through systematic practice. George Frederick Handel, despite sharing origins with Bach, pursued a cosmopolitan career and taught composition to George II's daughter, likely creating the Partimento exercises. These figure-based exercises, including dedicated fugue pages, demonstrate double counterpoint pedagogically. The relationship between partimento and improvisation is often conflated, but no one learns to improvise merely by harmonizing basslines. A good partimento fugue stands or falls with its subject, which is defined by a specific rhythm marking entries, followed by a sequential tail implying invertible counterpoint. The primary counterpoint provides opening via dominant and cadence with continuation in thirds and sixths, and can occur below the subject for transpositional exercises.

To improvise a prelude in the romantic style of Francisco Tarrega, analyze the harmony using partimento (figured bass) focusing on the rule of the octave and suspensions, then apply a characteristic progression of I-V-I-V with deceptive cadence to VI, followed by arpeggios and tonicizations of VI and V degrees using their respective seventh chords, while creating a melody in the top voice and arpeggio fills in the middle voice.

Music theory as an academic discipline is relatively new, having only gained a foothold within the last 50 years. Thoroughbass has several major schools: Italian, German, French, and the Neapolitan partimenti tradition. Friedrich Neefe and Bach viewed thoroughbass as the foundation of everything musical—not just accompaniment but an entire system for learning composition. Jean-Philippe Rameau is often caricatured as the 'fundamental bass guy' but is much more complex than this suggests. His theory was partly aimed at making music easier to learn rather than reflecting the hundreds of chords that thoroughbass might yield to a beginning student. Rameau was both a theorist and a practicing musician, following the tradition of distinguishing between speculative theoretical sections and practical sections. The Rule of the Octave was a fundamental exercise in thoroughbass pedagogy, teaching the normative harmonization of major and minor scales in the bass. Rameau felt it was an obligation to show its theoretical origin using his own theory of fundamental bass, but it didn't work out precisely.

This video explains the differences between Italian and French figured bass notation systems used in partimento practice, demonstrating how Salih's pedagogical fugue illustrates these variations—Italian notation places figures above the staff with specific rules like requiring a '2' on the strong beat before a bass note is pushed down, while French notation places figures below the staff and uses '+' to indicate leading tones and slashes through numbers to show diminished intervals descending to resolution points.

This extended discussion examines the partimento tradition that originated in the Kingdom of Naples to designate a continuo bass line used for improvising pieces pedagogically. The word likely derives from 'part book,' referring to the single staff line organists used to accompany choirs without reading full scores—a practical solution for managing multiple part books simultaneously. Partimento represented a rehabilitation of counterpoint by reconnecting it with its original improvisational foundations, involving beautiful imitation with deep narrative rather than dry four-voice exercises. The 'science of harmony' developed in German universities was criticized as pseudoscience—amateur scientists attempting to describe the complex human brain through oversimplified theories. Modern harmony courses have drifted so far that even basic concepts like the rule of the octave are unknown to PhD candidates. Andre Jadal's treatise stated every stable chord contains 135 or 136 (root, third, fifth)—fundamental knowledge for Palestrina and Paris Conservatory fugue exams in 1899-1905.

While the French sometimes used the Italian term 'partimenti,' they also referred to these exercises using different terminology, calling them 'given bases' or 'given melodies.' In these exercises, students would be given a bass line and asked to harmonize it. The website partimenti.org contains several years worth of material covering both the Italian partimenti tradition and the French harmony approach. Advanced exercises include those from the Paris Conservatory at the end of the 19th century and melodies and basses given by Nikolai Arensky to Rachmaninoff at the Moscow Conservatory, which are seriously difficult but achievable with proper preparation.

Scientific aspirations in music theory often conflict with practical musical needs. Thomas Young's trichromatic color theory influenced Hugo Riemann's three-cardinal-harmony theory, but unlike vision, there is no physical evidence in the ear for three distinct frequency sensitivities. Rameau's fundamental bass theory similarly failed practically despite impressing scientists. The progression from chord vi to chord iii (A to C in C major) is beloved (as in Pachelbel's Canon) but doesn't make sense within cadence-based theory. Italian pedagogy treated chord inversions as separate entities requiring different treatments, not as 'versions' of each other. The same musical content can be harmonized as simple or compound cadences depending on voice leading, demonstrating that schemas have ranges of variation. Tonality as a concept emerged only in the early 19th century, with Fétis claiming discovery. This challenges assumptions that tonality is inherent to music rather than a psychological construct. There is no universal musical pedagogy—partimento trains 18th-century improvisation while jazz uses lead sheets.