Editing Figured bass (section)

==Basso continuo==
{{Main|Basso continuo}}

[[Basso continuo]] parts, most common in the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] era (1600–1750), provided the [[harmony (music)|harmonic]] structure of the music by supplying 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''.
[[File:Soloquartet and strings.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A harpsichordist and a bassist play continuo for a small group of singers.]]
The makeup of the continuo group is often left to the discretion of the performers (or, for a larger performance, the [[conductor (music)|conductor]]), and practice varied enormously within the Baroque period. At least one instrument capable of playing chords must be included, such as a [[piano]], [[harpsichord]], [[organ (music)|organ]], [[lute]], [[theorbo]], [[guitar]], [[Regal (instrument)|regal]], or [[harp]]. In addition,{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} any number of instruments that play in the [[bass (music)|bass]] register may be included, such as [[cello]], [[double bass]], [[viol|bass viol]], or [[bassoon]]. The most common combination, at least in modern performances, is harpsichord and cello for instrumental works and secular vocal works, such as [[opera]]s, and organ  and cello for [[sacred music]]. A double bass may be added, particularly when accompanying a lower-pitched solo voice (e.g., a bass singer).

Typically performers match the [[Family (musical instruments)|instrument families]] used in the full ensemble: including bassoon when the work includes oboes or other winds, but restricting it to cello and/or{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} [[double bass]] if only strings are involved. [[Harp]]s, lutes, and other handheld instruments are more typical of early 17th-century music. Sometimes instruments are specified by the composer: in ''[[L'Orfeo]]'' (1607) [[Monteverdi]] calls for an exceptionally varied instrumentation, with multiple harpsichords and lutes with a [[bass violin]] in the pastoral scenes followed by lamenting to the accompaniment of [[Positive organ|''organo di legno'']] and ''[[chitarrone]]'', while [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]] stands watch to the sound of a regal.

The keyboard (or other chord-playing instrument) player ''[[Realization (figured bass)|realizes]]'' (adds in an improvised fashion) a continuo part by playing, in addition to the notated bass line, notes above it to complete chords, either determined ahead of time or [[Musical improvisation|improvised]] in performance. The figured bass notation, described below, is a guide, but performers are also expected to use their musical judgment and the other instruments or voices (notably the lead [[melody]] and any [[accidental (music)|accidental]]s that might be present in it) as a guide. Experienced players sometimes incorporate [[Motive (music)|motives]] found in the other instrumental parts into their improvised chordal accompaniment. Modern editions of such music usually supply a realized keyboard part, fully written out in [[staff notation]] for a player, in place of improvisation. With the rise in [[historically informed performance]], however, the number of performers who are able to improvise their parts from the figures, as Baroque players would have done, has increased.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

Basso continuo, though an essential structural and identifying element of the Baroque period, rapidly declined in the [[Classical music era|classical]] period (up to around 1800).<ref>"[http://thegreathistoryofarts.weebly.com/classical-era.html Classical Era (1750-1820)]", ''TheGreatHistoryofArts.Weebly.com''. Accessed: 27 July 2017.</ref> A late example is [[C. P. E. Bach]]'s Concerto in D minor for flute, strings and basso continuo (1747). Examples of its use in the 19th century are rarer, but they do exist: [[mass (music)|mass]]es by [[Anton Bruckner]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], and [[Franz Schubert]], for example, have a basso continuo part that was for an organist.{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}}