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LaoA basso continuo section needs at least one instrument able to deliver chords; so keyboard instruments (harpsichord family, organ family) and early Guitars (lutes, theorbos, gitterns) are necessary here. An often neglected basso continuo instrument is the harp (either chromatic or diatonic) - this is a shame.
The work of the chording instrument can be supplemented by other lower register instruments: cello, viola da gamba, bassoon family members.
In most cases of Baroque composition the makeup of the basso continuo group would be left to the performers (and the part itself would be largely improvised).
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What is a the basso continuo?
Basso Continuo, often shortened to just continuo can be the underlying structured music - used many times when, for instance, a Bach cantata is performed - the continuo part is usually played on an organ or other period instrument.
What is the Italian name for a continuous harmonized base line that was a part of most Baroque music?
Basso Continuo
What is the difference between basso continuo alberti basso?
Basso continuo is the art of creating an accompaniment from a given bass part. Alberti bass is one form of accompaniment, namely an arpeggio figure that imitates a certain style of guitar plucking. Typically an Alberti bass on the chord of C would go c-g-e-g repeatedly.
The number of musicians needed to perform a Baroque basso continuo is?
It is too simplistic to give a single answer to this question. The answer strongly depends on the time period. At the dawn of the continuo era (approximately 1600), the first continuo players were organists. The organ was the instrument expected to realize the continuo, which was at first designed to support the performance of sacred vocal music. Shortly afterwards, Giulio Caccini published his "Le nuove musiche", in which the theorbo (a kind of large lute) was clearly the intended continuo instrument for this collection of secular love songs. Indications in the score of one of the earliest operas (Claudio Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" in 1607) show a large and colourful continuo section, consisting of organs, harpsichords, theorbos and harps. Present research strongly suggests that no bass-line reinforcement (such as the cello or viola da gamba) was used in very early 17th-century music that was accompanied by continuo alone. In this time period, the continuo instruments were chord-playing instruments such as lute, guitar, harpsichord, organ and harp. Later in the 17th century, reinforcement of the bass line itself became desirable. This role was filled by both string and wind instruments: the cello, bass viol and violone; and the dulcian, bassoon and sackbut could serve this purpose. By the 18th century it was likely that a combination of a bass-line instrument and a chord-playing instrument was the usual norm, although it was still possible for a single keyboard instrument (harpsichord or organ) to serve satisfactorily. Earlier instruments like the dulcian and sackbut were unlikely to have been used by this point in time.
What is the difference between a violin and a thorough bass?
They're completely different.The violin is a melody instrument that often plays a solo part.The thorough bass is more usually called the "basso continuo," or "continuo" for short. It consists of an instrument, and usually two instruments, that play the bass line and the harmony. The expression is used in baroque music.The continuo is typically a cello or viola da gamba, which plays the bass line, and a harpsichord, which plays the bass line and harmony. The continuo may also be played on a small organ, theorbo, lute, harp, double bass or violone.Thus a Handel sonata for violin will be played by a violin on the solo part, with cello and harpsichord as the continuo group.
