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Chelys 7 (1977), article5
[69]
GENERAL RULES FOR REALISING AN
UNFIGURED BASS IN SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY ENGLAND
WENDY HANCOCK
The following rules are designed to provide a very practical guide to
realising an unfigured bass line. Chronologically they span the entire period
from Morley (1597) to North (writing in the early eighteenth century), and a
glance at the relevant theorists should indicate at which period any given
rule will apply. A word of encouragement for those unused to this practice
may be appropriate here. Much seventeenth century music requires the
addition of some continuo support, even if it is not specifically called for:
the Italian trio-sonata combination of two high treble parts and a bass, is a
case in point. The realisation need not be complicated; indeed most theorists
state a preference for simple chords and a frequent use of thirds and sixths
to the bass. As Roger North 1 says:
‘It is not allow’d a thro-base part to break and adorne while he
accompanys, but to touch the accords onely as may be figured, or [as] the
composition requires.’
I make no apology for including those theorists who deal exclusively
with written harmonic instruction besides those who speak of the figured
bass. A knowledge of standard harmonic procedure was essential to any
performer who wished to play from an unfigured bass line, which is why I
have made no distinction between rules for composing music, and rules for
adding extempore accompaniments. In practice, judging from surviving
examples, continuo style seems to have been a good deal freer.
The instrument most likely to have been used throughout the century was
the theorbo, particularly for accompanying songs. The organ was another
possibility earlier in the century, especially in sacred or instrumental
ensemble music; only after the Restoration was the harpsichord more
likely. 2 There is some evidence that the bass viol alone may have provided a
continuo besides doubling the bass of the theorbo or harpsichord.
Reference is made to the following works, some of which exist in
modern editions:
1 J. Wilson, ed.: Roger North on Music ... (London, 1959), p. 249.
2 Edward Huws Jones: `The Theorbo and Continuo Practice in the Early English
Baroque’, GS7, xxv (1972), p. 67-72.