Eleanor Selfridge-Field
and Edmund Correia, Jr.
© 1994 Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities
Reproduced by the IEEE Technical Committee on Computer Generated Music by permission
Category 2. Coordinate Spacing
Type 2. Presentation of basso continuo figuration.
Ordinarily, basso continuo figures can
be placed directly beneath the note whose harmonization they reveal. There are, however, three
classes of complications related to the placement of continuo figures:
- (1) they are often placed between notes to denote places where the harmony created by the
parts is changing even though the continuo itself is stationary,
- (2) they are used in combinations of arbitrary vertical and horizontal extent, and
- (3) chromatic alterations were often indicated by slashes across figures, so that the number
of figures in common use for creating composite figures is 15, and this does not exhaust
all the aberrations of Baroque practice.
Ex. #9 illustrates the first problem type in Bars 43-47, the second type throughout (see especially
Bars 48-51), and the third type in Bars 45 and 47. Errors in the original figures have been
corrected with information in brackets.
Ex. #9. Handel's Ottone: "Bel labbro formato" from Act 1. This example was produced by Edmund Correia, Jr.,
using MuseData and its associated printing system.
[
Index |
Previous Paragraph |
Next Paragraph
]