thoroughbass
Sign in to saveAlso known as continuo
technique of improvisation and accompaniment, common in Baroque music
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
A harpsichordist and a bassist play continuo for a small group of singers (the solo ensemble of the Kreuznacher Diakonie Choir [de]).
Basso continuo is a harmonic musical structure, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), that generally consisted of a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing the continuo part are called the continuo group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “thoroughbass” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.