David Rastall wrote: > My attempts to teach myself continuo continue... > > I'm looking at a sonata by Corelli: two instrumental parts plus > basso continuo. Under the bass notes are lots of indications for > dominant 7th and 9th chords
probably not all dominants, to be nitpicky... > , at places where the 7ths and 9ths appear > in the instrumental parts. That's no problem. I can find the > harmonies okay, but my question is: if the 7th or 9th is being > supplied in the upper parts, isn't that the place where I should > *not* be playing it? I think the definitive answer is "maybe." Surely the mere presence of a note in the violin part is not necessarily a reason to avoid it in the continuo. You don't avoid thirds and fifths for that reason. On the other hand, I don't think a figure that doubles a melody note makes the note required in the continuo. It's a matter of style, or, in your case, just what sort of lesson you want to give yourself that day. > I'm > thinking that perhaps those 7's and 9's under the bass are > editorial. Maybe the editor worked backwards: starting with the > upper parts, and figuring the bassline accordingly. Or did Corelli > really want all those 7ths and 9ths doubled in the continuo part? Unless you answer your first question with a hard and fast rule one way or the other, the completeness of the figures doesn't settle the question -- fewer figures don't mean you must omit the sevenths and ninths, and more figures don't necessarily mean you have to play them. For what it's worth, Corelli's trio sonatas acquired more figures as the years went on. In Chrysander's preface to his edition (now available in a Dover reprint) he notes that the later Dutch and English editions had more figures than the earlier Italian editions. I think the level of figuration reflects an attitude by the composer, original publisher, or editor about how much information is useful. In Couperin's publications, the figures amount to a sort of short score; you can just about create the upper lines from the figures. It's probably best to resist the temptation. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
