Programma
The course is addressed both to students who are new to the discipline of Basso Continuo and to those who have already gained experience in this field and wish to deepen stylistic, technical and historical aspects related to historical performance practice and interpretation.
Students will decide, depending on their level of preparation and knowledge, which group to enrol
in:
1. Beginner
2. Intermediate / Advanced
Each student will have individual lessons and will have the opportunity to listen to the lessons of the other students in both groups.
Depending on the level and the specific needs of each student, the course can be customised: one can work more with a theoretical and historical approach, with the help of sources and exercises, or focus on pieces of the student's choice, possibly with the accompaniment of other instrumentalists and/or singers. In addition to keyboard players (harpsichordists, organists, pianists), the course is also open to those who play instruments involved in the basso continuo playing, such as cello, viola da gamba, lute, harp, etc. Knowledge of national styles and harmonic and contrapuntal awareness are in fact some of the essential qualities of a musician who wishes to have a solid foundation not only for playing in ensembles and orchestras, but also for approaching the solo repertoire in a more conscious light. Enrolled students will be provided with a bibliography of treatises and methods, at least partial reading of which is recommended prior to the start of the courses.
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Some of the topics that may be covered within the course are:
Beginner group:
- Knowledge of intervals, consonances, cadences, chords.
- Figuring simple chords: complete and essential figuration, symbols and abbreviations.
- Study methods: How to achieve naturalness and ease in reading numbers.
- Performance of practical and targeted exercises aimed at developing the ability to recognise
intervals, analyse them and figure the movements of an unfigured bass line.
- Learning and recognition of the most important ostinato bass models.
- Approach to improvisation on simple patterns or short partimenti.
- The rule of the octave: in which styles and how to apply it.
- Realisation of simple pieces from the instrumental and/or vocal repertoire.
Intermediate/advanced group:
- Numbering of complex basses, figured and not.
- Realisation of partimenti of medium / high difficulty.
- Mastery of both a 4-part accompaniment and a full realisation in many voices.
- How to enrich the accompaniment with dissonances: acciaccaturas and mordents.
- Voice leading and distribution of voices between the two hands.
- The dynamic basso continuo: how to manage the range, increase or decrease the number of
parts, dose the nature of arpeggios.
- Imitations of the bass line or other instruments/other voices: when and how much to do it?
- Between improvisation and composition, towards the obbligato keyboard sonata: how
elaborate can or should an accompaniment be?
- Sight-reading basso continuo.
- Mastery of styles: what makes a basso continuo more "Italian", "French", "German" etc.?
- Depending on the nature of the instruments or voices being accompanied: extension,
amount of filling voices, doubling of the solo part.
- Harpsichord, organ, fortepiano: how does the accompaniment change on different types of
keyboard?
- Solo basso continuo, chamber music, orchestra: the role of the basso continuo, between
support and creativity.
Bio
Arianna Radaelli, harpsichordist and pianist from Milan, graduated in piano with Silvia Rumi at the Conservatory of Milan (2015) and then attended a piano specialization Master with Paolo Bordoni. She completed a Master in harpsichord and historical keyboards at the Como Conservatory (2017), in the class of Giovanni Togni, after which she obtained a Master's degree in Performance and one in Pedagogy in the classes of Francesco Corti and Andrea Marcon at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (2019, 2021). She attended harpsichord, historical piano, organ and improvisation classes held by musicians including E. Fadini, B. Cuiller, S. Sempé, B. Martin, E. Baiano, C. Rousset, J.A. Bötticher, D. Börner, L.F. Tagliavini, G. Tabacco, O. Baumont.
She won solo and chamber music competitions, including the 19th Biagio Marini Chamber Music Competition and the 19th Paola BernardiInternational Harpsichord Competition in Bologna. She performed in concert with conductors such as Jordi Savall, Václav Luks, Alfredo Bernardini, Andrea Marcon and Luca Quintavalle. Arianna has been musical assistant in the staging ofbaroque operas at the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musi and plays concerts in Europe both as harpsichord and historical piano soloist and as member of ensembles and baroque orchestras at festivals, including Freunde Alter Musik Basel, Styriarte Festival, Urbino Musica Antica, Actus Humanus Gdansk, FEMUBA. Arianna is co-founder of the duo Alter Ego and plays with Abchordis Ensemble, Anima&Corpo Ensemble, Camerata Salzburg, Mozarteum Orchester, Ensemble Zefiro, Bachakademie Stuttgart, Café Zimmermann. Arianna devotes herself intensively to music pedagogy: from 2021 to 2023 she taught basso continuo and was accompanist at the Institut für Alte Musik der Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. Since January 2023, she has been teaching harpsichord and basso continuo at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.