Skip to content
Harmony

Bass clausula

The bass clausula is the usual bass motion with which an authentic cadence is harmonically completed. The bass falls a fifth or, equivalently, leaps a fourth upwards when it moves from the dominant to the tonic.

Motion
fifth down or fourth up
In C major
G → C
Origin
older counterpoint teaching, clausula
Further clausulae
soprano clausula (B–C), tenor clausula (D–C)

The bass in the close

The term comes from older counterpoint teaching. It described the voices of a close each with its own clausula: the upper voice with the soprano clausula, the middle one with the tenor clausula and the lowest with the bass clausula. Depending on the teaching a further clausula is added for the alto voice. The bass clausula gives the authentic cadence its harmonic foundation. It occurs in every authentic cadence of tonal music, from the vocal polyphony of the Renaissance to functional harmony.

The bass clausula in C major: fifth down

4 4

The bass falls from the dominant G to the tonic C: a perfect fifth downwards.

The same clausula as a fourth up

4 4

The same in a lower register: G2 to C3 is a fourth upwards. Both ways lead to the same note.

All three clausulae together

4 4

In the sequence from dominant to tonic each voice has its clausula: on top B → C (soprano clausula), in the middle D → C (tenor clausula), at the bottom G → C (bass clausula). All three meet on C.

In the glossary: Full close (authentic cadence) · Perfect cadence · Dominant

GVCI

Distinctions

The bass clausula is not the deceptive cadence, in which the expected step to the tonic is replaced by another degree. Nor is it the half cadence, which ends on the dominant and precisely does not carry out the bass clausula. And it is not the motion of the plagal close, in which the bass goes from the subdominant to the tonic (F → C).

While the bass clausula supplies the grounding, different melodic closing formulas can unfold in the other voices.

Practice: At the piano play the bass G → C, once as a fall of a fifth and once as a leap of a fourth upwards. Add in the right hand the notes B and D, which resolve to C, and hear the three clausulae as a whole.

Continue on Maikstrings

Cadences

All closing formulas with listening examples.

Diatonic chords

Dominant and tonic in context.

Sight-reading

Anticipating closing formulas when reading.

Related terms

Full close (authentic cadence)CadencePerfect cadenceDominantTonicDeceptive cadenceHalf cadence

Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026

← Back to the glossary