basso continuo

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basso continuo: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	continuo • thoroughbass • figured bass

Topics

bass musical notation harmony accompaniment cadence key ground bass microtonal music chromaticism appoggiatura drone consonance and dissonance chord polytonality

Key People

Emilio de’ Cavalieri

Italian composer

Henry Lawes, portrait by an unknown artist; in the collection of the Faculty of Music, Oxford

Henry Lawes

English composer

Agostino Agazzari

Italian composer

Quiz

Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)

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