Biblioteca de la Guitarra y Cuerda Pulsada

This lesson is part of a series that first appeared in Nostalgia, the news letter of the Lute & Early Guitar Society of Japan.

-Introduction
-Lesson one: notes, intervals, scales and chords
-Lesson two: exercises
-Lesson three: basic rules
-Lesson four: first practical steps
-Lesson five: three songs by Telemann

-Introduction-

Today’s continuo players tend to use lutes in the old tuning: Renaissance lutes, archlutes and theorbos. But, remarkably, the baroque lute seems to be a neglected instrument for accompaniment. There is no reason not to use it, however, as its tuning allows for easy chord shapes and its bass range is ideal for most baroque music. In larger ensembles a lute might not be heard so well, the louder theorbo would be a better choice here, but in chamber music or accompanying a soloist, perhaps joined by a viol or cello reinforcing the bass line, a baroque lute can provide a rich continuo realisation. We know from contemporary sources that it was done in the 17th and 18th centuries. There are some treatises on continuo theory that give chord shapes for baroque lute and notably Baron and Weiss wrote about the use of baroque lutes, and also theorbos in d-minor, to play continuo.

There are several reasons why you should play continuo on your baroque lute. The first one is the best: it’s fun to do! Even with basic continuo skills you will be able to play together with other people in any number of settings: duo, trio, chamber music, choir accompaniment, etc. The second reason is that suddenly your repertoire will be extended with all baroque music that includes a continuo bass. You will be able to play along in Bach cantatas, enjoy French chamber music by e.g. Marais or Couperin and you will be able to accompany singers in all sorts of songs and solo cantatas. The third reason is that studying continuo will improve your understanding of music and your instrument, and therefore improve your solo playing; in short, it will make you a better musician. In the baroque era studying music meant composing and extemporising, two skills you need in making continuo realisations. The last reason to play continuo on baroque lute is that it will get you closer to the specific sound of certain styles. In France, for example, the new d-minor tuning had replaced the old Renaissance tuning by around 1650.

From then on all new lute music in France was played on baroque lutes and theorbos only. To come closer to a continuo realisation of the time of De Visée, it makes sense to use either of these instruments, and not an archlute, an instrument not commonly used in France at that time. Weiss, a lute player who must have felt completely at home in the d-minor tuning, exemplified by his superb solo music, in 1723 mentions in a letter to Mattheson that he had tuned his theorbo to d-minor. Baron writes in 1727 this is common practice by then. On larger theorbos it is not possible to have a high f, the first course of a lute in d-minor, as a gut string would have to be put under so much tension that it would break. In stead of the Italian solution of re-entrant tuning, German lutenist started with the second course of the d-minor tuning, a d, making that the first course on their theorbos. To get closer to the sound of German continuo lutenist from the beginning of the 18th century, we have to do the same thing: play continuo on our lutes in d-minor tuning. In Italy, on the other hand, the d-minor tuning was never adopted, so the two Italian theorbo players who were employed at the Dresden court when Weiss was also working there most likely played their theorbos in the ‘old’ tuning, as did the famous Italian theorbist Francesco Conti, who worked in Vienna.

-Lesson one: notes, intervals, scales and chords-

In the introduction you have been given practical as well as historical reasons to study continuo on your baroque lute, so now it is time for a first lesson. Before you can study real continuo, however, you must be able to read from bass and treble clefs and you will have to know a little bit about music theory. To help you on your way I have turned to an early 18th century manuscript from the former Raudnitz library of the Lobkowitz family, now in the possession of the Prague University Library (Ms. II Kk 51). This manuscript is filled with simple exercises written in staff notation parallel to tablature. It teaches the basics of music theory, including continuo playing, in examples for 11-course baroque lute. Using these as guides, I have attempted to make something similar.

Notes

Music is made of sounds. A sound of a fixed pitch is called a tone. To distinguish between the pitches, tones have been given the names of the first seven letters of the alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f and g, where b is higher than a, c higher than b, etc. Although there are a sheer infinite number of pitches in music, only seven names are used for the tones. Rising in pitch after reaching g, we will continuo with a, b, c, etc. Descending in pitch after reaching a, we will continue with g, f, e, etc. To distinguish between different tones with the same name, I use a wide-spread and unambiguous system. It divides all tones in groups of seven, beginning every group with c. The tones contained in each group belong to the same octave. These octaves also have common names. This is how they are written, starting with the lowest group:

Sometimes subscript numerals are used for the lower groups, placed before or after the capitals (e.g. ₂C or C²) and superscript numerals for the higher groups, placed after the small letters (e.g. c¹). The tone c' is called middle c.

A tone written in musical notation is called a note. Notes are written on a staff of five staff lines. Notes can be placed through a staff line or in between two staff lines. If the note is too high or too low for the five regular staff lines, ledger lines are used. These are staff lines the length of one note only, extending the range of the staff. To fix the pitch of a note on a staff, clefs are used. In my exercises I will often use a staff system with two staves. The lower staff makes use of the bass clef and the higher staff of the treble clef. The bass clef fixes the position of the F and the treble clef fixes the position of the g'. You can imagine one ledger line between these two staves. The note written through this ledger line is middle c or c'.

In such a staff system we can notate the notes of music for baroque lute without using too many ledger lines. Reading from a staff system will also prepare you for continuo playing. Here are all the notes on the first six courses of a baroque lute, written on two staves and in tablature. Familiarise yourself with this notation.

We can raise every tone a so-called half step by placing a sharp (♯) in front of the note. A half step is the distance of one fret on the lute. Likewise we can lower every note a half step by placing a flat (♭) in front of the note. A sharp or flat before a note is valid for that note only, and for all notes of the same pitch till the end of the measure. A sharp or flat at the beginning of the staff is valid for the whole piece. One sharp at the beginning of the staff will raise every f to f-sharp and the second sharp will raise every c to c-sharp. One flat at the beginning of the staff will lower every b to b-flat and the second flat will lower every e to e-flat. To temporarily cancel a sharp or flat a natural (♮) is used. A natural before a note is valid for that note only, and all notes of the same pitch till the end of the measure.

The sharps or flats at the beginning of the key signature are called the key signature. Be aware that especially the rules concerning the validity of sharps, flats and naturals in front of notes have not been the same throughout history, so be careful when playing from older scores. Here are all the f-sharps, c-sharps, b-flats and e-flats on the fingerboard of the baroque lute:

Tablature tells us of each note on which string and in which position we have to play it. Staff notation does not. It is left to you to decide where on the lute you want to play each individual note. If we want to take advantage of this freedom, we must know all the alternative places on the fingerboard for each note. I have made an overview of all notes on all strings. You might want to keep that near you until you can find your way unaided.

You have to make yourself familiar with staff notation, so this is a good moment for your first excercise: you can take any music with single lines to each part, instrumental or vocal, and play the notes on the separate staves. It is not important to learn to play the pieces, because the only aim of the exercise is to familiarise yourself with staff notation.

Intervals

The distance between two tones is called an interval. The interval between a tone and itself is called a unison. The interval between a tone and the one (higher or lower) is called a second. In order of increasing size the intervals are called third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and octave. Here is an example with all intervals starting on c':

We can increase or decrease an interval by raising or lowering either or both of the tones of the interval. In the vast majority of so-called classical music from the western world, the smallest notated distance is the aforementioned half step, exactly one fret distance on the lute. Two half steps are called a whole step or a whole tone. If we take this whole tone as a unit, we can make the following table of intervals, with examples of the intervals, starting on c:

Studying this table we can distinguish two groups of intervals. One group is made of pure intervals, which are called diminished and augmented when decreased or increased. These are the unison, fourth, fifth and octave. The other group has minor and major intervals, depending on their size. These are the second, third, sixth and seventh. Another thing we can see is that depending on how the tones are called, one interval can have two different names. For example, the distance from c to e is 2 whole steps and is called a major third. The distance between c and f-flat is also two whole steps but is called a diminished fourth. Although this is just a consequence of the naming system and has no practical consequences for playing the interval on a lute, it can be useful in determining the names of chords.

Scales

A scale is a sequence of eight consecutive tones with fixed intervals. The eighth tone is the start of the following, identical sequence. Although there are more scales, for now it is enough to learn major and minor scales. At this point it is useful to realise that all tones in a scale without sharps or flats are a whole tone apart, also called a major second, except for the intervals e-f and b-c, which are a half step, also called a minor second, apart.

Major

The major scale is made of tones with the following intervals: major second - major second - minor second - major second - major second - major second - minor second. In other words, the consecutive tones in a major scale are 1 - 1 - ½ - 1 - 1 - 1 - ½ whole steps apart. Starting on the tone c, and writing the intervals in whole steps between the notes, it looks like this:

This is called the scale of C-major.

If we raise every tone by a whole step, starting on the tone d, we will get the scale of D-major. Raising the e a whole step gives an f-sharp. Raising the b a whole step gives a c-sharp. In stead of writing these sharps in front of every tone f and c in the scale, we will place the two sharps at the beginning of every staff:

Music written on staves with two sharps, together with the ending note d, is in the key of D-major.

Minor

The minor scale is made of tones with the following intervals: major second - minor second - major second - major second - minor second - major second - major second. In other words, the consecutive tones in a minor scale are 1 - ½ - 1 - 1 - ½ - 1 - 1 whole steps apart. Music that uses the minor scale, in other words music that is written in a minor key, often has the seventh and even sixth tone in the scale raised, especially in endings. However, this is not reflected in the key signature, so here I will give the scale without raised sixth and seventh tones. Starting on the tone a, and writing the intervals in whole steps between the tones, it looks like this:

With this knowledge we can calculate and play the major and minor scales of all keys. To help you along I have made a paper showing the notes in the keys of C, G, F, D and B-flat major and the keys of a, e, d, b and g minor. These are the keys with a maximum of two sharps or flats. I have begun and ended each scale with the tonic, the first tone of the scale, but included in between all tones from the 11th course till about the eighth fret of the first course.

Chords

Chords are three or more tones sounding together. The intervals between the tones in a chord are stacked thirds. Two stacked thirds will form a chord of three notes, called a triad. Making all possible combinations of major and minor thirds, we can form four different triads:

Here are the four triads on the tone c':

In all these chords the tone c' is called the root. The third (in C-major chord: e) and the fifth (in C-major chord: g) do not have to be in the octave as they are written here, and it is allowed to include in the chord as many tones c, e and g as you like and from any octave. In continuo playing we do not usually play under the written bass, however, and if we do play under the bass it will only be a tone exactly an octave lower. Another rule, more a matter of good taste actually, is to limit the number of thirds, preferably to one only. Of course, the occasional exceptions will be allowed. Then, for the purpose of playing continuo, all the following chords of C-major, this time on the lower c of the small octave and all based on the same chords shape, can be equally good:

-Lesson two: exercises-

I have taken two publications (1680 and 1698) by the French lutenist Perrine as a guideline for a few exercises to start you on your continuo career. Perrine’s instructions are both practical and historical. From studying them it is clear that playing continuo requires mental as well as physical training, so if your knowledge of music theory is insufficient, do return to the explanations in the previous lesson. You can also find many modern books and treatises on the subject. For now, it is enough to know about notes, intervals, scales and chords.

Part of the ‘Table for learning to play figured bass on the lute’ by Perrine (added to the 1698 edition of his Livre de Musique pour le Lut of 1680).

1) You have to become familiar with staff notation. You can take any music, instrumental or vocal, and play the seperate staves, preferably transposing to the most suitable octave on your lute. If you have lute music in staff notation, so much the better, as you can read both staves together to play the whole piece. It is not important to learn to play the pieces, because the aim of the exercise is to familiarise yourself with staff notation.

2) You will need to feel at ease playing in all the keys. Play scales, major and minor in all common keys, or as many as you can handle, starting low, going up as high as you can, and try to find an alternative way back on the fingerboard. This way you will get to know all positions on all courses.

3) Play scales in intervals. Above the bass you can play a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, octave or ninth (or second, Perrine makes no distinction), major, minor, diminished, pure or augmented according to the key signature. Play the interval in a convenient octave. Do this in all common keys, or as many as you can handle. Here is an example of thirds above the bass, on a scale of C-major.

4) Find chord shapes for all major and minor chords and try to see patterns in these shapes. For example, moveable major and minor chord shapes with the root on the sixth course:

And moveable major and minor chord shapes with the root on the fifth course:

And, finally, moveable major and minor chord shapes with the root on the fourth course:

Other patterns are for example the relation between major and minor chord shapes, often just one finger difference. It makes sense to practice these chords also in scales going up and down. For example in the key of C-major, you can play a chord on each of the notes of the scale, major or minor according to the key signature. Perrine gives a minor chord on the seventh note in the scale, but you might want to play a diminished chord here.
Here is one possible solution to playing chords above a scale in C-major:

This is quite a lot for one lesson. Don’t try everything at once, but gradually build up your reading and playing skills. In the first week you could start with
1) playing simple melodies in bass and treble clef,
2) play scales with no more than one flat or sharp,
3) play these scales in octaves and
4) find the shapes of the chords in the key of C-major.
The second week you might want to read a little more complicated music and try some more scales, intervals and chords.

-Lesson three: basic rules-

For those of you who never played any continuo before, I must first explain a few things. To play continuo, one must follow a number of rules. First of all, one must always play the bass line, never any notes below the bass line and one must add chords above the bass where appropriate. What chord is to be played, is written in figures underneath, or above, the bass line. The figures tell you which intervals you must build upon the bass note to get the desired chord. If you have free fingers and some imagination, or have taken the time to prepare yourself, you might want to embellish your part with melodies and other niceties, but as long as you play the bass line, with the occasional chord above it, you are already playing continuo.

Seventh chord

In lesson one we have learned about intervals and chords: two stacked thirds form a triad. Three stacked thirds will form a seventh chord, so called because the interval between the root of the chord and the highest note is a seventh. There are many varieties of seventh chords, but for practical purposes the dominant seventh chord is enough to be familiar with for the moment. It is made by adding a minor third on top of a major triad. Here is the dominant seventh chord on c.

Chord inversions

If the root of a chord is the lowest note, the chord is said to be in its root position. If the second note of the chord, the third, is the lowest note, the chord is said to be in its first inversion. If the third note of the chord, the fifth, is the lowest note, the chord is said to be in its second inversion. It is useful to be aware of this, and not to simply stack intervals on a given bass note, as being aware of inversions will make it easier to use familiar chord shapes.

Figures

The figures tell you which intervals to build upon the bass note. The result will be a chord.

Unless otherwise specified, you must always play a third and a fifth above the bass note, making a triad. This is regarded as understood, so the figures 3 and 5 are only given in special circumstances. If you are to play something else than this simple triad, the figures will tell you which intervals to stack on the bass. Be aware that often the figures are abbreviations of chords, and more notes are supposed to be played than those indicated.

For now it is enough to be able to play the following figures, with their alterations.

In what octaves you play the notes indicated by the figures is up to you. In continuo playing manuals from the Baroque era, aimed at keyboard players, the students are taught to play four-part realisations. For examples of these you can study the chorals by J. S. Bach. Also, care should be taken that every voice, but especially the highest voice, has good voice leading; every voice must be a nice melody in itself. On a lute, continuous four-part playing with good voice-leading of the individual parts is often not possible, but we try what we can. Making a nice melody in the upper voice of our continuo realisation is not impossible, though, so we should aim at doing at least that. The most important rules in voice leading that are useful to us are to avoid parallel octaves and fifths in the outer voices, and to apply contrary motion wherever possible.

Avoiding parallel octaves and fifths

If the interval between the lowest and highest note in a chord is an octave (or two octaves), you cannot have an octave again between these outer voices in the next chord. The same holds true for fifths. This rule of forbidden parallel octaves and fifths is one of the strictest rules to obey.

Contrary motion

On a lute, with its moveable chord shapes, it is not always easy to avoid parallel octaves and fifths in the outer voices. A good trick is, when playing two chords that have the same shape on the fingerboard in succession, to play the highest note in the second chord one string lower if the bass goes up, and to play it on one string higher if the bass goes down. This is called contrary motion.

Avoid doubling the third

To play four-part harmonies with triads means we have to double a note of the chord. It is best to avoid doubling the third in a chord, especially when this third goes up a step to the root of the next chord. In practice this means we have to be especially careful with first inversions, so called 6-chords. Try not to double the lowest note of this chord, as it is the third in the triad. This is an extension of the rule that dissonant elements in a chord, notes that will be resolved in a consonant, should not be doubled. Being aware of this rule will soon breed good taste in this matter, for once your ears are opened to it, you will quickly appreciate the natural logic of it.

The size of the interval indicated by the figures is dependent on the key signature. For example, the figure 6 indicates one to play a sixth on the bass note. This sixth can be major or minor depending on context, see the next example, the sixth on the g is major, and the sixth on the a is minor, although both have the same figure.

All figures represent the interval to be played: the figure 2 requires the continuo player to play a second on the bass note, the figure 4 a fourth, etc. All figures can be followed, in older publications often preceded, by a flat or sharp to lower or raise the interval. A neutral sign can be used to cancel to flat or sharp. Lowering and raising must be done relative to the key signature. The examples will clarify this. As the third is understood to be played always, a flat or sharp without any number indicates a lowered or raised third. Likewise with a neutral sign. Compound figures are figures stacked upon each other. We must try to play all the intervals indicated, but not necessarily in the order as they are written.

Some figures indicate the linear movement of the parts in the continuo realisation. These are two or more figures above the same bass note. Here are the most common ones.

A horizontal line under a bass notes indicates that you can hold the chord you played on the note before. The words Tasto solo tell you to just play the bass, without any chords.

These rules are an abbreviation and simplification of the rules on continuo playing as written by for example J. S. Bach (1738) and his son C. Ph. E. Bach (1753). A good continuo player should know a lot more, but if even the rules given here are too much for you now, don’t despair, because I would like to repeat once more: just play the bass line, with the occasional chord above it, and you are playing continuo. A better understanding, as well as the ability to play more complicated chords, will come with practice.

Voice leading

Voice leading is the word used for the horizontal movements of the different parts of the continuo realisation. For us lute players, this is mostly about making a nice melody in the highest voice of our continuo parts. The only way to judge our melody, and how it interacts with the bass and the solo part, is listening to it. But there are a few tips that can help.
A good melody does not make great jumps, but goes stepwise. If you do make a jump, try to fill the gap stepwise in the other direction.
Example of a stepwise melody, filling the jumps:

One should try to apply contrary motion where possible. Contrary motion is the compositional device that when the bass goes up, de highest voice goes down, and vice versa. Not only does this sound good, it is also a good way to avoid parallel octaves and fifths.
Example of contrary motion:

A continuo player must not only try and apply contrary motion between bass and highest voice, but if possible also between his own highest notes and the solo voice when accompanying a single singer or instrumentalist. It will be obvious that this is often an impossible task, but nevertheless one we should try to accomplish. Let your ears be the judge, and develop good taste by listening carefully to others, and study written out continuo parts.

Where contrary motion is not possible, it can be nice to make the melody of our continuo realisation in parallel thirds or sixths, either parallel to the bass or to the solo voice. More than about three successive thirds or sixths are too much, however. Again, let your ears be the judge.
Example of parallel thirds in outer voices, followed by contrary motion:

Doubling the part of the soloist is not considered good continuo practise. Of course it is perfectly all-right to double the occasional note, but not extended parts of the melody.

If the soloist has the third in the chord, especially if the chord is a major chord, try to avoid that third as highest note in your chord. The third in a chord will often go up stepwise, if it is the third in a major chord it even has to go up to follow proper voice leading rules, which will make it unavoidable to double the soloist. If you develop an ear for this, it will be an easy rule to follow, as good taste cannot be suppressed.

These are too many rules to remember when improvising continuo. But these are rules of good taste, mostly, and good taste can be learned by studying good examples and by listening with these rules in mind. Read the rules again, once in a while, to refresh your memory.

Exercises in chord progressions

Now it is time to put all this theory into practice. A good way to start is to play common chord progressions in common keys. Here are two pages (pdf) with the chord progressions. The goal of the exercise is to play the bass, find as many chord shapes as you can and to invent as many melodies as you can. As with all exercises, you don’t have to do everything at once. So start with only playing the bass, then find the chords, and then play bass and chords at a slow but steady tempo. Next, try to invent melodies upon the bass, play these melodies with the bass and only at the last stage put bass, chords and melody together.

-Lesson four: first practical steps-

French air de cour: Vos mespris chaque jour by Michel Lambert.

An important part of the solo repertoire for Baroque lute is seventeenth-century French music by composers such as Gaultier, Dufaut and De Visée. In the same period so called Airs de Cour were very popular in France. In the first half of the century these were still published with tablatures for Renaissance lute, but later the accompaniments for these songs were printed as continuo basses. This is good, and beautiful, material to study, and we can find inspiration for our accompaniments in the solo repertoire of the period. The figures are very complete and the music lends itself perfectly for lute, although it must be said that the preferred instrument to accompany the voice was the theorbo, not the Baroque lute. One of the major composers of airs de cour with continuo accompaniments was Michel Lambert (ca 1610-1696), a theorbo player himself. You will find his song Vos mespris chaque jour as a the first practical step in continuo playing. The bass is a chaconne, a repeated bass line of just four measures. This is ideal to become familiar with different chord shapes upon those bass notes. The song has an instrumental introduction for two violins which I have freely transcribed for lute solo, giving you an idea of some of the melodic possibilities upon the bass line. In the song itself, I have given a continuo realisation of the first couple of measures only, urging you to make the rest yourself. You will notice I have not realised every figure. This is because some of the figures are describing what the vocal line is doing, and it is better to make another melody in the lute, complementing instead of doubling the vocal part. Therefore sometimes we do not have to play all the figures. A good example is measure 54, where I just play the 6 at the end of the measure, but not the 5 in the middle, or measure 52 where I play neither the 5 nor the raised 6.

-Lesson five: three songs by Telemann-

Four-part realisations

Especially in the high Baroque, continuo treatises written for keyboard players advocate the playing of four-part continuo realisations. This is very hard to accomplish on a lute, and also not the best way for a lute to play an accompaniment, as it does not make use of the lute’s stronger points: broken chords, unobtrusive countermelodies and a light texture. But, we should not ignore the prevailing advice of the great composers of the time, and at least try to follow it.

Three songs by Georg Philipp Telemann

One of these great composers was Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), also one of the most prolific composers of his time: with over 2000 known works, he has written more music than Bach and Händel together. His music is of exceptionally high quality. This was a composer who understood his job and studying his compositions will help us to become better musicians. Apart from over 1200 cantatas, 23 passions, 25 operas and more than 1000 instrumental works, Telemann also took the trouble to make a small booklet with exercises in continuo-playing, called Singe-, Spiel- und Generalbaß-Übungen (Hamburg, 1733). And what a joy this booklet is. It contains 48 short continuo songs, with continuo realisations for the right hand written on a separate staff between treble and bass. This is where we find the three parts that together with the bass make the four-part realisations. Every song has a few words about specific points in the continuo, so it is good material for studying high baroque continuo. I have taken the first three songs and made continuo realisations for Baroque lute, trying to incorporate Telemann’s realisations as well as his advice. Instead of four-part textures, however, you will find mostly three-part accompaniments. My continuo realisations are but one of many possible ways of playing these songs, of course, so you are strongly urged to make your own. I must also stress that it is absolutely useless to play only my versions. Without making your own accompaniments, improvising them or writing them out, you will not learn to play your own continuo.

These are the three songs in pdf:
1. Neues
2. Geld
3. Zufriedenheit