A translation on the section Concerning a Partimento that Descends Stepwise in Fedele Fenaroli’s Partimenti ossia basso numerato, Book III Naples (1775) Ed. Gjerdingen, with adaptions to the guitar.
When the Partimento descends by step, accept various accompaniments.
I. First, the notes of the descending scale can be considered as follows.
- The first of them, which is assumed to be the tonic (①), should be regarded as such, and therefore must be accompanied by a 3rd and a 5th.
- The next descending note (⑦) should be accompanied by a 3rd and a 6th.
- The next descending note (⑥) should again be considered as the tonic (①), and the one after (⑤) as the ⑦, and so on.
These two accompaniments—one of 3rd and 5th, and the other of 3rd and 6th, should alternate until the Partimento reaches ③, at which point this rule ceases to apply.
Note: In short, consider it as a ① → ⑦ sequence spanning from ① to ③. See example A.
II. Considering the descending scale of the Partimento in the same way as described in the previous section, i.e. the first note as the tonic (①), the second as the seventh (⑦), the third (⑥) again as the tonic (①), the fourth (⑤) again as the seventh (⑦), and so on until the third (③) of the scale, this motion may be accompanied as follows:
The ① will at first have a 3rd and a 5th; then, while the Partimento remains on the same note, it is given the accompaniment of a major 2nd and major 4th. After this, as the Partimento descends to the ⑦, it will be accompanied by a 3rd and a 6th. On the next scale degree (⑥) what was said about the tonic will apply again; on the ⑤, what was said about the ⑦ applies, and so on, until the Partimento reaches ③. See example B.
III. All the notes of the descending Partimento can be accompanied by a 3rd and a 6th until it reaches the ②. Give the ② a 6th, and on the following scale degree (①), that 6th should ascend to the 8ve.
IV. The descending Partimento may also be accompanied as follows:
Starting with the ①, give it a 3rd and a 5th, and then raise the 5th to a 6th. Then the Partimento descends by step to ⑦, on which the 6th given to the tonic forms a suspension (7th), which resolves to a 6th. This 6th then forms a new suspension (7th) on the next scale degree of the Partimento, and so on successively until the ②, where the suspension (7th) resolves to a major 6th, which, rising to the 8ve, forms on the final note of the Partimento the consonance of the 8ve.
Note: Until now, we have discussed the descending stepwise Partimento with separate notes; it remains now to treat the descending stepwise Partimento that is completely legato (tied).
See example D.
This concludes this essay on partimento that descends stepwise, as instructed by Fedele Fenaroli in his Partimenti ossia basso numerato. You can download this essay as a PDF for free.
Karl Michelson 