figured bass

American  

[beys] / beɪs /

noun

Music.

1. a bass part in which the notes have numbers under them indicating the chords to be played.

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figured bass British  

/ beɪs /

noun

1. a shorthand method of indicating a thorough-bass part in which each bass note is accompanied by figures indicating the intervals to be played in the chord above it in the realization

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Etymology

Origin of figured bass

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

Not fatigued by his radicalisation of both musical texture and technique, Corelli added another flourish to his work: a musical shorthand called figured bass, or thorough bass, inherited from Monteverdi and universally adopted after him.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

It sometimes amplifies a thought, much as a musician might amplify the harmonies upon a master's figured bass.

From The Original Fables of La Fontaine Rendered into English Prose by Fredk. Colin Tilney by Tilney, Frederick Colin

Philipp Kernberger's solutions of the Canons and his expansion of the figured bass of the Clavier part of the Sonata.

From Johann Sebastian Bach by Forkel, Johann Nikolaus

An example of a figured bass is given in Fig.

From Music Notation and Terminology by Gehrkens, Karl Wilson

During the seventeenth century, sonatas were written for various instruments, with a figured bass for the cembalo.

From The Pianoforte Sonata Its Origin and Development by Shedlock, J. S. (John South)