Partimento
A bass line as a practice basis for improvisation and composition.
What it means
A partimento (Italian, from partire, "to divide") is a bass line, sometimes figured, sometimes unfigured, that serves as a practice basis for improvisation and composition. The student receives only the bass and adds the other voices at the harpsichord or piano until a complete piece arises, for instance with imitation, sequences and cadences.
Musical use
The partimento was a core element of music training in the Neapolitan conservatories of the 18th century and was developed by teachers such as Francesco Durante, Leonardo Leo and later Fedele Fenaroli. Students thereby learned to master harmony and counterpoint not theoretically but through practical playing. Since the 1990s the method has been rediscovered by scholars.
The partimento should be distinguished from figured bass, in which an accompanist realizes chords to a bass line for other musicians, and from species counterpoint, which practises individual rules systematically.
Performance practice
When you practise with partimenti, play the bass and consider which chords and voice-leading fit. Explore schemata such as sequences and cadences and repeat them in other keys. In this way the theory of composition becomes exercise for your ear.