What is Partimento?

Partimento is a tradition, originating in the 17th century Neapolitan Conservatories, originally intended for training orphans (those being conserved) in the art of professional music. A partimento is a piece of music, written on only one staff, that gives an outline for a potential piece of music. It can be thought of like figured bass, and in fact, most often partimenti give the Bass part, but often they will also indicate a higher part, in the tenor, alto, or soprano range. With this thread or guide, a student is expected to be able to both improvise and compose complete polyphonic and contrapuntal pieces in 2, 3, or 4+ parts. Essentially, it trains you to become a classical musician and composer, by teaching you with training wheels. With the guide of a partimento, you can learn the standard idioms of classical harmony, turn the partimenti into real music, and eventually, become well equipped to compose new music without the training wheels of partimento.

Prerequisites

1. You should have access to a polyphonic instrument. All of the treatises assume a keyboard (harpsichord, organ, piano), but a guitar can also work. You can even make do with solo instruments like strings or woodwinds, but you will have to be creative to imply the full 3-4 part polyphony and harmony of the partimento.

2. You should be able to read sheet music, both Treble and Bass clef. Soprano, Alto, and Tenor clefs often appear in treatises as well, so being able to read them is helpful as well, though not necessary.

3. You should be able to play every scale in every key, both Major and Melodic Minor.

4. You should have a basic understanding of Basso Continuo/Figured Bass/Thoroughbass. Beginning partimenti are "figured", meaning that harmonies/melodies are indicated with figured bass (arabic numerals under or above the bass line). Don't worry, it's not difficult to learn.

5. Modern theory, like Functional Harmony and Roman Numeral Analysis, is not required (although it won't hurt either)!

-- I'm ready! Where do I start? --

This section is not meant to teach you any of the topics, only to provide a sort of "Table of Contents" and suggested roadmap for what and in what order you should study. When possible I will provide links/references to where you can learn that topic.

Study Plan

Note: Many of these topics are covered in multiple places. There is no one best way to go about learning this. Feel free to hop around and pick and choose topics as needed. Keep the reference of topics in mind as you study, so that you can keep track of what you have and haven't learned.

1. Furno's Treatise

   a. This is, in my opinion, the best treatise for beginners to read at first.

   b. Read and reread all the rules, play all the examples, and practice realizing the partimenti

   c. Bonus points if you do the above, but transposing the examples/exercises to several different keys

   d. By the time you finish the treatise, you should be familiar with consonance, dissonance, suspension, modulation, Rule of the Octave, and some moti del basso.

   e. If you are still having trouble, try watching these videos where Furno's treatise is read, analyzed, and played.

2. Handel's Exercises for Princess Anne

   a. Practice applying what you have learned with Furno by watching the videos in this playlist and doing the exercises. This should really solidify your understanding of harmony and counterpoint.

3. Durante and Fenaroli's Treatises and Partimenti

   a. At this point you should have a solid foundation, which means you are ready to move onto more advanced topics and partimenti.

   b. Read these new treatises. This will be an opportunity to both learn some new things, and review old topics

   c. Try playing some unfigured partimenti if you can! If it's still too difficult, try some more figured/easier partimenti first.

   d. Try some advanced partimenti! Try a partimento fugue!

4. After this, you should be well equipped to improvise and compose your own music! Just imagine a bassline and the rest will follow!

Reference of Topics

1. Consonance and Dissonance

   a. Perfect Consonances

   b. Imperfect Consonances

   c. Suspensions (7-6, 9-8, 4-3, 2-3)

   d. Other dissonances (passing tones, neighbor tones, appogiatura)

2. Cadences

   a. Simple

   b. Compound

   c. Double

   d. Deceptive

   e. Galant

3. Simple Scale Harmonizations

   a. Fauxbourdon

   b. Monte 5-6

   c. Descending 7-6 Fauxbourdon

4. Rule of the Octave

   a. Major Keys

   b. Minor Keys

   c. 3 positions (3rd in soprano, tenor, or alto)

5. Schemata

   a. Prinner

   b. Quiescenza

   c. Romanesca

   d. Fenaroli

6. Circle-Of-Fifths Bass Motions

   a. 5th down 4th up

   b. 3rd down 2nd up

   c. Tied Bass

7. Other Bass Motions

   a. Ascending Chromatic Lines

   b. Descending Chromatic Lines

   c. 3rd Up, 2nd Down

   d. 4th up, 3rd down

   e. 4th up, 2nd down

   f. 4th down, 3rd up

   g. 5th up, 4th down

   h. 4th down, 2nd up (Romanesca)