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

Viadana is said to have been the first to use what is called a basso continuo, and even the figured bass.

From Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University by Baltzell, W. J. (Winton James)

A part performed by instruments, accompanying another part or parts performed by voices; the subordinate part, or parts, accompanying the voice or a principal instrument; also, the harmony of a figured bass.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah

The introduction to the work is a quiet, tender movement in sonata form, written for two flutes, two viol-da-gambas and figured bass, which gives out some of the themes in the middle of the cantata.

From The Standard Cantatas Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers by Upton, George P. (George Putnam)

Instead of the national game the class was wrestling with figured bass and the art of descant, and again it groaned aloud.

From Old Fogy His Musical Opinions and Grotesques by Huneker, James