Talk:Unfigured bass

== A peculiar way of performing unfigured bass in 17th c. England mentioned in Gerald Abraham's Concise Oxford History of Music? ==

I remember reading in Gerald Abraham's Concise Oxford History of Music some years ago that in England, around 1660, a peculiar performance practice for unfigured bass parts was fashionable for a time, namely that the bass was performed (on a viola da gamba or cello) against obbligato parts (particularly against a solo vocal melody line) alone, that is without any harmony instrument (such as a harpsichord) filling in the chords. Can anyone check the work at the relevant chapter and confirm that (just in case my memory is playing tricks on me) and post here what the exact wording is? And also give the exact reference (page number, etc.) Signed: Basemetal ( write to me here) 04:13, 28 November 2012 (UTC) Basemetal  12:06, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Nonexistent topic
This isn't a real thing. Obviously there are bass lines without figures, but having an article on it is like having articles on "unpublished books" or "unpainted houses". Or "meals without bananas". Tell me why I shouldn't AFD this. Using sources. &mdash;Wahoofive (talk) 23:32, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

It does exist
It is an existent topic. I hypothesize that the prefix "un-" is the result of a corruption of the term under-figured bass (a term I've seen used as a synonym) which refers to the lack of guiding intervals. The fact is that around the time that this device was in use, there was no such thing as bass lines in orchestras that were not continuo parts; there essentially had to be figures played, whether they were given or not. I believe the article should be re-written due to its lack of sources, but the topic should not be gotten rid of entirely. There is plenty of literature on the subject. I have cited two sources mentioning the subject, but I can find more.

I have re-written the article
I have re-written the article, giving more information and citing sources. Hopefully this meets your expectations.

Musicmaster7 (talk) 10:01, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Boccherini's Cello Sonatas performed by just two cellos?
Boccherini's Cello Sonatas (or some of them: I have not checked the scores of all 40 of them) are for Cello and unfigured bass. However my understanding was that the normal way to perform them was at the time to have a keyboard player improvise the chords, not to have the works performed by just two cellos. So how historically accurate is this performance of Boccherini's Cello Sonatas by just two cellos? Contact Basemetal   here  16:08, 9 November 2014 (UTC)
 * You might enjoy looking at Couperin's Nouveaux concerts. He says (p47) that although one could add a harpsichord or theorbo, nos. 12 & 13 always sound better with two viols and nothing more. He also figures some parts labeled "accomp." and leaves others for "violes sans accomp", although one such passage also has figures! Sparafucil (talk) 06:37, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Interesting. Thanks. Contact Basemetal   here  10:52, 22 November 2014 (UTC)