Giovanni Furno Partimento No. 2: Voice Leading & Rule of the Octave

The Neapolitan partimento tradition, a nearly extinct keyboard counterpoint pedagogy from 18th-century Naples, was dominated by two contrasting schools: Leonardo Leo's church-focused approach emphasizing fugue construction through themes and counter subjects with many ties and suspensions, and Francesco Durante's opera-focused approach emphasizing melodic flexibility, modulation, and element-based training through figures like fourths, sevenths, and ninths. Students could identify a partimento's lineage by visual characteristics—Leo's pieces often appear in pairs with dominant endings and contain many ties, while Durante's pieces feature text explaining rules and focus on specific pedagogical elements. The revival of this tradition requires extensive manuscript research, as thousands of copies with misattributions exist, and understanding these pedagogical differences is essential for proper realization and interpretation of historical keyboard counterpoint.

In Fenaroli's Partimento method, the parento (ascending chromatic scale) follows specific rules based on mode: in major mode, it begins on degree three and rises by semitone up to degree six; in minor mode, it begins on degree five and rises to degree eight. The secret lies in recognizing that in the compound scale with two hexachords, the starting point corresponds to the me-fa of the dominant seventh chord on the first degree of the major mode. Harmonization possibilities include using the seventh chord with third and sixth degrees plus diminished fifth, preparing suspensions (4-3 and 9-8), and combining these techniques for richer harmonic color.

Fedele Fenaroli (1759-1818) developed a systematic four-book partimento curriculum for the Naples Conservatory that progressed from basic scales and cadences (Book 1) to suspensions (Book 2), bass motions (Book 3 with 49 exercises), and finally preludes and fugues (Book 4 with 22 pieces). His teaching emphasized producing multiple realizations per exercise rather than single solutions, with students expected to exhaust possibilities before advancing. The rule of the octave (scales in first position) was taught before cadences, focusing on acquiring familiarity with sonorities on each scale degree before addressing voice leading. Dissonances were distinguished from suspensions by their metric position—suspensions fall on strong beats while passing notes fall on weak beats. Fenaroli's approach maintained consistent material across 50 years of teaching, believing that effective methods should not be changed unnecessarily. His critical edition addresses the Imbimbo edition's structural problems, restoring the original manuscript order and preserving alternative realizations in ossia staves.

The video demonstrates Bach's sophisticated use of chromaticism and modulation throughout his keyboard works. His compositions frequently employ chromatic passing tones, diminished seventh chords, and unexpected modulations to create tension and resolution. The performances illustrate how Bach used these techniques to expand harmonic vocabulary beyond the diatonic system, creating expressive depth and dramatic contrast within his compositions.

Advanced partimento techniques include modulation, which involves changing keys within a musical piece, requiring careful planning of the harmonic progression. When modulating, arriving with the third in the top position requires careful planning. Contrary motion can be used to arrive at the desired position after modulation. The ascending pentacord in partimento is an important pattern that helps musicians come back from the fifth degree to the first degree. The diminished seventh in partimento can be used to create interesting harmonic effects, such as using a 5-3 instead of a 5-6 or introducing a diminished fifth. A diminished fifth over B flat creates a distinctive harmonic effect. An incisive cadence in the top voice is used for rhetorical purposes, creating a dramatic and conclusive effect. A standard four-part realization involves carefully distributing the harmonic material across four voices while maintaining the structural integrity of the pattern. Parallel sixes with diminutions involve moving both upper voices in the same direction while maintaining the sixth interval, with added ornamental notes. Understanding harmony and counterpoint involves changing the perspective with which one reads and plays notes, transforming technical playing into meaningful musical expression. Before realizing a partimento, it is essential to analyze the baseline, understanding the patterns and structures within. The feneroli pattern is a canon-like pattern from Martino Campanaro in Italian style. The canon of the feneroli involves a melodic pattern repeated at a different pitch level, creating a layered texture. The sending pentacord in partimento follows the feneroli and creates a sense of movement and progression. A half cadence before starting a new feneroli creates a sense of anticipation. The four-six cadence involves a four chord followed by a six chord. The double cadence involves two consecutive cadences, creating a more dramatic and conclusive harmonic effect. The tenor cadence features the tenor voice in the bass and then a 5-1 cadence. Contrary motion with sharp involves moving voices in opposite directions while incorporating a sharp. Chromaticism in partimento involves using sharps and flats to create interesting harmonic effects. Having the third in the top position creates a more elegant and sophisticated harmonic texture. Neighboring tones in partimento are used to push forward the musical speech, creating a sense of movement and progression. The anticipation of six with sharp involves preparing a six chord with a sharp before it is realized. The preparation-suspension-resolution pattern involves a seventh that resolves to a sixth, creating a characteristic harmonic effect. Doubling the six in partimento (6-8) creates a smoother harmonic progression than parallel octaves. Contrary motion in minor keys involves moving voices in opposite directions to create smooth harmonic progressions. Identifying node points involves recognizing the key structural moments within the musical piece. Even simple partimento patterns can create interesting realizations when approached with the right techniques, focusing on phrasing, good connection of phrases, and proper cadences.

The Fonte is a musical schema identified by eighteenth-century music theorist Joseph Riepel, derived from the Italian word for “fountain” or “spring.” It consists of a two-stage descending harmonic pattern: the first stage is in the minor mode, and the second stage, a whole step lower, shifts to the major mode. This pattern was frequently employed by composers at or near the beginning of the second part of binary-form movements, particularly in instrumental dance pieces and the A-section of da-capo arias. It also appears in modulatory passages within sonata-form expositions. Robert Gjerdingen incorporated the Fonte into his theory of galant schemata, as detailed in his book Music in the Galant Style, chapter 4, and further explored in his article “Mozart’s Obviously Corrupt Minuet.” Michael Weiss demonstrated its continued use into the nineteenth century. The video compiles examples from composers including Mozart, Haydn, Bach, Scarlatti, Pergolesi, Rossini, and others, with specific timestamps linking to YouTube recordings of works such as Mozart’s Divertimento for String Trio, K. 563; Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia overture; Bach’s Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C, BWV 564; and Mozart’s Missa solemnis, K. 337. Additional resources are provided via Open Music Theory and academic repositories. The Fonte is presented as a recurring structural device in galant and early classical styles, illustrating how composers employed predictable harmonic patterns for expressive and formal coherence.

This video demonstrates how Johann Adolf Hasse, at age 26, fully mastered galant schemata in his 1725 aria 'Quel candido armellino' from 'Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra', utilizing the Romanesca as an opening gambit, the Ponte, the Monte, the Circle-of-Fifths Prinner, and sequences built on stepwise ascending bass segments (5-6 and 7-6) within a da capo structure to express Cleopatra's courage and equanimity.

This video explores how Mozart employed galant schemata—conventional melodic and harmonic patterns—in the great quartet from his opera Idomeneo. Robert O. Gjerdingen’s analytical framework is used to reveal that nearly every measure of the quartet involves at least one such schema. Specific schemata are linked to characters: the Triadic Descent identifies Idamante; the Meyer and Indugio accompany Ilia’s entrance; the Passo Indietro marks Idomeneo’s arrival. The Morte schema, combining a chromatic descending bass with a rising treble line, dominates the quartet, initially expressing Idamante’s emotion but later extending to all characters, including Elettra’s cry for vengeance and Idomeneo’s lament “Nettun spietato.” Two dramatic tonal digressions into D flat and C flat major are interpreted as an elaboration of the Morte’s chromatic notes, framed by the conventional Overture schema, which helped audiences accept these harmonic extremes. Mozart adheres to binary form but subverts it in the seconda parte, introducing five previously unused schemata—Monte Romanesca, Long Comma, Aprile, Corelli Leapfrog, and Quiescenza—at measure 134, coinciding with the return to E flat major. The Monte Romanesca and Corelli Leapfrog, associated with sacred music, evoke a liturgical atmosphere, transforming the operatic conflict into a metaphysical confrontation. These innovations occur as the music regains tonal stability, enabling a climactic expansion of schematic variety and expressive depth.

Music Schema Theory proposes that musical understanding is fundamentally based on recognizing recurring patterns (schemas) rather than abstract harmonic functions; these schemas, such as the Romanesca (down a fourth, up a step) and Monte (up a fourth, down a third), were explicitly taught in 18th-century Neapolitan conservatories and represent regularities in musical repertoires that can be statistically validated, offering a more cognitively grounded alternative to traditional Roman numeral and harmonic function theories which often fail to capture actual musical practice.

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.

This video teaches how to improvise a prelude in the style of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier by combining specific musical patterns (meami, printer, cadence, monte, tide base, chromaticism, and question patterns) from the Partimento Magic Box system, demonstrating that composition is a game of combinations where understanding individual patterns is only useful when knowing how to connect and organize them effectively.

Traditional partimento resources from the 19th century, such as those compiled by Anton Arensky, contain hundreds of simple baselines that merely teach standard harmony exercises. These resources fail to provide idiomatic romantic keyboard structures that trigger the student's imagination and lead to convincing musical results. The gap between theoretical instruction and practical musical realization remains unaddressed. Effective romantic keyboard structures should trigger the student's imagination and lead to convincing musical results when realized thoroughly, rather than meandering through a stylistic no-man's land.