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The teaching of counterpoint and composition in eighteenth-century conservatories differs significantly from the teaching practices that are commonly used today. Apprentices in these institutions learned their skills in keyboard-based counterpoint through collections with titles such as ‘Regole per suonare il cembalo’ (rules to play the harpsichord), or simply ‘Partimenti.’ With the help of such exercises, basic rules of dissonant treatment were learned practically on the keyboard. Cadences, scales, and sequences were imitated and varied in various keys. As soon as these students had mastered playing the most common patterns, they learned how to combine them in larger thoroughbass-based pieces, or ‘partimenti,’ as they were called. Improvisatory skills in counterpoint were thus integrated into the practice-based learning at these institutions already before the written studies in counterpoint and composition started. 

Besides the practice of figured bass, some maestri would guide their students in the playing of unfigured bass. Unfigured partimenti helped students to become prepared to work as accompanists, which was particularly helpful in opera rehearsals where accompanists were expected to play from scores in which the bass parts were unfigured. 

This article aims to clarify the pedagogy of the unfigured bass in eighteenth-century Naples, including the yet largely undiscussed pedagogy of the ‘underfigured bass.’ The term ‘underfigured bass’ refers to exercises, in which the composer deliberately—and this is important—excluded information from the figures for pedagogical reasons. By discussing and comparing a number of figured, unfigured, and underfigured partimenti, I will reflect upon how students realized and practiced these types of exercises. Particular attention will be given to Carlo Cotumacci’s (1709–1785) unique approach to these matters as they have been preserved in his collection ‘Regole, e Principj di sonare lezzioni di partimenti.’

In addition to this, these examples will be brought into perspective as to whether our modern pedagogy of counterpoint might be served by similar more practically oriented approaches to counterpoint.

The study of European music in the long eighteenth century has advanced rapidly since the publication in 2007 of Robert O. Gjerdingen's Music in the Galant Style, which not only consolidated the theory of stock patterns (or schemas) used in composition and im provisation during this period, but also highlighted the importance of contemporary solfeggio and partimento as ways of learning these patterns. In 2012, Giorgio Sanguinetti published The Art of Partimento, encouraging the revival of such techniques and enabling scholars and musicians to incorporate historical practice into curricula. Three years lat er, Peter van Tour's Counterpoint and Partimento provided the first in-depth study of the third phase of the traditional Italian apprenticeship by interpreting the surviving manu script counterpoint notebooks from the Neapolitan conservatories of the era. By 2018, Job Ijzerman was able to synthesize much of this knowledge into a new method of teaching music theory "inspired by old masters" in his Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento. The year 2020 saw the publication of Gjerdingen's Child Composers in the Old Conservatories, which described in detail how orphans became elite musicians, and Nicholas Baragwanath's The Solfeggio Tradition, which shined further light on the first stage of training. Many other scholars have also made significant contributions to the field. 

This keynote lecture delves into the counterpoint and composition exercises of the young Croatian composer Luka Sorkočević (1734–1789), also known as Luca Sorgo, created between 1754 and 1756 in Dubrovnik. Sorgo’s two handwritten counterpoint notebooks and early compositions, nowadays preserved in the Franciscan Monastery Music Archive in Dubrovnik, chronicle the initial steps of an eighteenth-century apprentice under the tutelage of a certain maestro Giuseppe Antonio Valente.

The content of Sorgo’s counterpoint notebooks suggests that Valente was trained at a Neapolitan conservatory in the early 18th century before he was appointed maestro di cappella at Dubrovnik Cathedral in 1749. This lecture will contextualize some central ideas in Valente’s curriculum that are deeply rooted in Neapolitan traditions. His lessons, documented in Sorgo’s notebooks, reveal the use of simple figured bass lines and variation counterpoint, hallmarks of Neapolitan pedagogy.

By comparing Sorgo’s counterpoint lessons with several counterpoint notebooks in and outside of the Neapolitan conservatories, I will argue that the bass lines in Sorgo’s counterpoint notebooks most likely were first played on the keyboard as partimenti. The practical preparatory work on the keyboard facilitated fluency in writing and skills in creating variations on commonly used harmonic or contrapuntal patterns.    

Though Dubrovnik, a smaller city of under 8,000 inhabitants, differed markedly from these major centers, Sorgo’s notebooks exemplify the diffusion of Neapolitan contrapuntal pedagogy across Europe. This lecture explores the transmission of these educational practices and Sorgo’s place within this rich pedagogical tradition.

Workshop

Title:          “Valente’s Partimento Pedagogy Reconstructed on the Keyboard”

Keywords:   Partimento, Francesco Durante, Bass Motions

This hands-on workshop offers a practical exploration of the counterpoint and composition techniques of Luka Sorkočević (1734–1789), also known as Luca Sorgo, developed under the guidance of Giuseppe Antonio Valente in Dubrovnik between 1754 and 1756. Participants will engage with Sorgo’s handwritten counterpoint notebooks and early compositions, which are preserved in the Franciscan Monastery Music Archive in Dubrovnik.

The workshop will delve into the core elements of Valente’s curriculum, which was heavily influenced by his training at a Neapolitan conservatory. Key components include the use of simple figured bass lines and variation counterpoint, both essential aspects of Neapolitan pedagogy. Through practical exercises on the keyboard, attendees will learn how these figured bass lines were initially played as partimenti, facilitating fluency in both writing and improvisation.

By examining, analyzing, and performing examples from Sorgo’s notebooks alongside other contemporary counterpoint exercises, participants will gain insight into the instructional methods of the time. The workshop will emphasize the creation of variations on commonly used harmonic and contrapuntal patterns, fostering a deeper understanding of eighteenth-century compositional techniques.

This session is designed for musicians, music educators, and students who wish to gain hands-on experience with historical counterpoint and composition practices. Attendees will leave with practical skills and knowledge that reflect the diffusion of Neapolitan contrapuntal pedagogy across Europe, as exemplified by Sorgo’s work in the relatively small yet culturally rich city of Dubrovnik.

Partimento has emerged as a significant topic of discussion, contributing to substantial changes in the landscape of music theory over the past few decades, and it is today seen as one of the clearest signs that older rule-based strategies of learning are under revision: they are gradually being replaced by historically informed methods by integrating improvisational strategies of learning into traditionally written subjects, such as Renaissance counterpoint, fugue, and harmony. So, how did we get to this point in the late twentieth century?

The decline of improvisational pedagogy took place in the nineteenth century and can be attributed to several factors, including the rise of the work concept, the popularity of public concerts and concert halls, for a growing centrality for nationalistically oriented musicology, and baroque, classical, and romantic composers in general. This shift also marked a significant transition in music pedagogy: the traditional methods of professional apprenticeship through ear-based and improvisatory methods, learned at the keyboard from an experienced maestro, were gradually replaced by a more scientifically oriented fundamental bass approach taught to skilled amateurs through harmony books in classes at a university or Hochschule. This democratization of music education (yes, this was the positive side of these developments) led to the gradual decline of learning through improvisation. Improvised clichés, once prevalent in eighteenth-century masses and psalm settings for the sacred liturgy, were replaced by new compositional strategies. Worn-out clichés became skillfully disguised into instrumental masterpieces intended for public performance.

These changes had a significant impact on music theory curricula, especially in the twentieth century. Previously, our focus had primarily been on the mechanical labeling of chords in four-part chorales, strict adherence to rule-based harmony textbooks, and the study of counterpoint in line with Fux’s tradition. Times have changed: while the German romantic theory tradition focused on four-part harmony, drawing inspiration from Johann Sebastian Bach’s chorale settings, the more modern approach to integrating improvisatory learning in three-part counterpoint on the keyboard, takes its model in the Corellian trio-sonata style.

Top of Form

This keynote lecture comments on the implication of these new developments in music theory. The Neapolitan methods of partimento are here explained with the help of photos of partimento manuscripts, and we will reflect upon the question of how improvisatory pedagogy can be integrated into our modern theory classroom.

Research into the repertoire of Italian partimento has undergone rapid development in just a few decades. This phenomenon is unprecedented in the history of Western art music, as a vast and previously unrecognized body of repertoire has accumulated extraordinary interest within a short timeframe.

However, how did this surge in interest occur, what direction is this development taking, and why have certain aspects of partimento teaching garnered attention while others have remained overlooked?

In this keynote address, I argue that the increased interest in partimento pedagogy provides a compensatory solution to challenges encountered in traditional written harmony and counterpoint instruction. It introduces a curriculum where counterpoint and harmony are taught as a unified and practical subject. Unlike conventional textbooks and methods, which focus extensively on rules about inversions, chord doublings, voice leading, and species counterpoint, Neapolitan pedagogy emphasizes practical learning through the performance of cadences, scales, and sequences—referred to by Neapolitans as contrappunto pratico.

Many of these developments have been propelled by the digital revolution. Today, video learning, podcasts, and Zoom lessons stimulate new groups of students all over the world to imitate common patterns of these elements and learn to vary and combine them to create new phrases, akin to how young children learn to construct sentences from learned vocabulary. As such, partimento has become a new form of digitally communicated music theory. 

Consequently, it’s unsurprising that new analytical approaches such as Robert Gjerdingen’s Schemata Theory, with its cognition-based approach to music analysis, have become integral to this reinvigorated approach to practical musicianship.

Furthermore, this lecture will explore various challenges associated with these developments and propose ideas for future research in partimento.

Research into the repertoire of Italian partimento has undergone rapid development in just a few decades. This phenomenon is unprecedented in the history of Western art music, as a vast and previously unrecognized body of repertoire has accumulated extraordinary interest within a short timeframe.

However, how did this surge in interest occur, what direction is this development taking, and why have certain aspects of partimento teaching garnered attention while others have remained overlooked?

In this keynote address, I argue that the increased interest in partimento pedagogy provides a compensatory solution to challenges encountered in traditional written harmony and counterpoint instruction. It introduces a curriculum where counterpoint and harmony are taught as a unified and practical subject. Unlike conventional textbooks and methods, which focus extensively on rules about inversions, chord doublings, voice leading, and species counterpoint, Neapolitan pedagogy emphasizes practical learning through the performance of cadences, scales, and sequences—referred to by Neapolitans as contrappunto pratico.

Many of these developments have been propelled by the digital revolution. Today, video learning, podcasts, and Zoom lessons stimulate new groups of students all over the world to imitate common patterns of these elements and learn to vary and combine them to create new phrases, akin to how young children learn to construct sentences from learned vocabulary. As such, partimento has become a new form of digitally communicated music theory. 

Consequently, it’s unsurprising that new analytical approaches such as Robert Gjerdingen’s Schemata Theory, with its cognition-based approach to music analysis, have become integral to this reinvigorated approach to practical musicianship.

Furthermore, this lecture will explore various challenges associated with these developments and propose ideas for future research in partimento.