I was into Baroque music for years before I started listening to later classical music and I won't say I could play figured bass but I understood it well enough to read it and tell what chords it was specifying.
Usually figured bass was for the "continuo," which was the name for a bass viol (a bowed instrument like a cello but with frets)…
I was into Baroque music for years before I started listening to later classical music and I won't say I could play figured bass but I understood it well enough to read it and tell what chords it was specifying.
Usually figured bass was for the "continuo," which was the name for a bass viol (a bowed instrument like a cello but with frets) and a harpsichord; it was not until Bach's Brandenburg #5 that the harpsichord got a lead role. The pair of instruments were like what bebop would call the rhythm section. They were an accompaniment, and the two musicians were expected to be able to improvise within the piece, playing music that was not written out, only hinted at.
The musicians did this all the time, not like modern classical musicians who might do Baroque only sometimes.
I was into Baroque music for years before I started listening to later classical music and I won't say I could play figured bass but I understood it well enough to read it and tell what chords it was specifying.
Usually figured bass was for the "continuo," which was the name for a bass viol (a bowed instrument like a cello but with frets) and a harpsichord; it was not until Bach's Brandenburg #5 that the harpsichord got a lead role. The pair of instruments were like what bebop would call the rhythm section. They were an accompaniment, and the two musicians were expected to be able to improvise within the piece, playing music that was not written out, only hinted at.
The musicians did this all the time, not like modern classical musicians who might do Baroque only sometimes.