Figured Bass

FIGURED BASS is a species of musical shorthand by which the harmony only of a piece is indicated. It consists of the bass notes alone, with figures to represent the chords. It seems to have been first employed by Peri, Caccini, Viadana, and Monteverde, about 1600, in the accompaniments of their Recitatives and Songs, and was afterwards for some time in universal use for accompaniment; songs such as the collection of the Orpheus Britannicus, and anthems such as Boyce's collection,...