Partimento for Beginners: Fenaroli No. 1 Bass Harmonization

Figured bass notation (numbers below bass line) indicates harmonic structure. The instructor demonstrates: (1) Analyzing figured bass with Roman numerals; (2) Creating soprano lines that fit the harmony; (3) Adding inner voices (alto, tenor) while checking for parallels; (4) Adding non-chord tones including escape tones, neighbor tones, passing tones, chromatic passing tones, neighbor groups, and appoggiaturas. The instructor explains how to create suspensions from figured bass symbols (e.g., a four chord calls for a four-three suspension with a sharp). The demonstration shows how embellishments transform plain chords into colorful, characterful music.

Diruta classified five types of diminutions: minuta (stepwise eighth/sixteenth notes), gruppi, tremoli, clamationi, and accenti. He established guidelines for their use: diminutions work well when parts move together but are inappropriate for imitation sections unless applied identically to all voices. In quick pieces with stretto imitations, even minimal diminutions should be avoided. Diruta demonstrated that while he marked ornaments in examples, most intabulations replicated voices literally. The goal was to enhance rather than obscure the original composition, using ornaments only when appropriate to preserve the musical integrity of the piece.

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.

Baroque improvisation in triple meter relies on mastering fundamental patterns including cadences (such as 6/4 suspensions, double cadences, and the advanced hola cadence), sequences (circle of fifths, three-down-two-up, and tied bass patterns), and diminutions (embellishments like passing tones and arpeggios) that serve as essential building blocks for developing fluency in Baroque-style keyboard improvisation.

The first category of historical improvisation involves adding ornaments and diminutions upon a given part or parts. The composer supplies the basic notes, and the performer adorns the music with graces and elaborated passages. Diminutions refer to note values that become smaller and faster. The earliest treatise on this subject is Sylvestro Ganassi's Fontegara from 1535. By the early 17th century, treatises by authors like dalla Casa, Bassano, Bovicelli, and the Rognoni brothers became prominent. Students learned to fill intervals with diminutions, enabling them to perform pieces according to accepted performance practice without deep counterpoint understanding.

Francesco Durante, a central figure of the Neapolitan School in early 18th-century Italy, composed eight concertos for string ensemble featured in this recording by Ensemble Imaginaire under Cristina Corrieri. Naples was a major European musical center, and Durante’s instrumental works reflect its vibrant tradition, blending operatic drama into purely instrumental forms. The concertos vary in structure: only the Fifth follows the standard fast-slow-fast three-movement model; others include fugues, double canons, minuets, and abrupt presto sections. Expression is consistently intense, embodying a distinctly Neapolitan style. A world premiere recording is included: a previously unknown concerto in B-flat major, not found in the sole surviving manuscript but confirmed as authentic by its harmonic daring and vivid character. Ensemble Imaginaire performed this concerto for the first time in modern times prior to the recording. The works showcase intricate counterpoint, unexpected formal deviations, and expressive contrasts, with movements labeled as “Affettuoso,” “Largo,” “Ricercare,” and “Canone à trè,” indicating a richly textured, emotionally charged language. The recording highlights Durante’s role in transmitting stylistic traits that defined the Neapolitan school. All concertos are performed on period instruments, emphasizing historical authenticity. The tracklist details each concerto’s movements, including the additional concerto titled “la pazzia” in A major.

Francesco Durante (1684-1755) was a highly influential Italian Baroque composer and teacher who studied with leading composers like Gaetano Greco and Alessandro Scarlatti, served as Kapellmeister at the Conservatory of Santa Maria of Loreto for over 30 years, and trained famous composers including Giovanni Paisiello and Niccolò Jommelli; his sacred works, particularly his Magnificat, and his role in developing the Neapolitan School of music, which dominated Italian music in the 18th century, established him as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era despite being often overlooked in historical accounts.

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.

Nicola Sala was a leading 18th-century music teacher in Naples, whose partimento and counterpoint pedagogy descended from Leonardo Leo’s tradition at “La Pietà dei Turchini,” emphasizing church counterpoint over Francesco Durante’s operatic style. Sala’s partimenti are considered valuable resources for studying imitative counterpoint and fugue, particularly when studied alongside his treatise “Regole del Contrappunto pratico.” In this recording, Roberto Cornacchioni Alegre performs Partimento No. 77 in a three-part texture, as the original was not fully notated and was likely intended for extemporization. The style typically omits fourth or fifth voices, treating them as optional free counterpoint. However, the partimento clearly contains a four-part stretto, suggesting it was also used for training in written choral fugue composition. The structural similarities between this piece and Sala’s “Christe eleison” in the “Regole” further support its use in formal counterpoint instruction. The performance is played on organ, reflecting the liturgical context of the pedagogy. The recording was made in May 2022, and the accompanying painting depicts the Porta Capuana in Naples, grounding the historical and geographical context of Sala’s teaching environment.

Francesco Durante (1684–1755) was a prominent Italian Baroque composer and influential teacher in Naples, known exclusively for sacred music despite never writing for the stage. He studied under Gaetano Greco and Alessandro Scarlatti, and possibly Bernardo Pasquini and Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, though the latter lacks documentation. He held key teaching positions at Naples’ conservatories from 1725 until his death, succeeding Scarlatti and later Porpora. His pedagogical method emphasized rigid adherence to musical rules, distinguishing him from Scarlatti’s more individualized approach. Among his pupils were major composers including Pergolesi, Paisiello, and Jommelli. His output consisted primarily of sacred works: two requiems, multiple masses (including the distinctive Pastoral Mass for four voices), Lamentations of Jeremiah, and a Magnificat that gained popularity due to misattribution to Pergolesi. A complete collection of his works was donated by art collector Gaspare Selvaggi to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and Vienna’s imperial library holds valuable manuscripts. His reputation as a master of sacred music was amplified by his absence from opera, leading to his recognition as the founder of the sentimental school of Italian church music. His legacy endures through preserved manuscripts and the influence of his students.

The Font is a musical pattern consisting of a minor first part followed by a major second part, with a characteristic melody of 'fa sol fa' in the major section, while the Monte is its ascending opposite that starts from the third degree and uses dominant-tonic relationships to connect keys, both being essential schemas in the Partimento Method for teaching composition and improvisation.

Partimento and figured bass analysis provide a powerful lens for understanding guitar literature. Using gallant schemata (musical patterns from the Baroque period) makes analysis clearer than traditional Roman numeral analysis. When analyzing pieces like Giuliani's sonatinas, looking at the music in gallant style reveals why sections are structured the way they are. Teaching partimento to young children (ages 10-12) on the guitar is more difficult than on the keyboard due to the physical demands of fretting notes. It is important to study partimento before learning Roman numerals because adults find it difficult to unlearn established habits.

In the Partimento method of Baroque composition, proper voice leading requires careful attention to harmonic resolution, where parallel thirds and ninths resolve to octaves and fourths resolve to thirds, and unprepared suspensions must be corrected by removing notes that don't belong to the harmony to ensure smooth, consonant musical passages.

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.

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.

Partimento, the Italian system of figured bass improvisation, provides the essential harmonic vocabulary and procedural framework for keyboard artists to improvise fugues, as it teaches musicians to recognize and execute typical harmonic progressions, invertible counterpoint combinations, and thematic relationships that form the structural DNA of fugue writing, enabling them to create authentic historical fugue improvisations by understanding the underlying musical logic rather than memorizing specific pieces.

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.

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.

This comprehensive section covers the foundational techniques of the partimento method for building preludes. The theme is presented first, followed by the answer transposed at the fifth interval. A stepwise bass line is essential for creating good intervals at the top. The chromatic quinfold pattern, where the bass moves down a fifth and up a fourth, is introduced as the 'queen' of partimento magic boxes. Musical rhetoric concepts include the exordium (opening theme), narratio (development), and proposito (new theme in bass). The foron pattern arrives at the fifth degree using a 7-6-7-6-3-7 pattern. The compound cadence uses a suspension on the fifth degree. These techniques form the structural foundation for organizing musical development and creating coherent musical narratives.