Explanation of Alberti Bass in Music
Alberti bass is a specific type of accompaniment figure commonly used in 18th-century keyboard music, particularly in the Classical and Romantic eras. It is named after Domenico Alberti, an Italian musician who extensively used this technique, although he was not the first to do so.
The Alberti bass is a broken chord or arpeggiated accompaniment where the notes of a chord are played in a specific order: lowest, highest, middle, highest. This pattern is then repeated several times throughout the music. The broken chord pattern helps create a smooth, sustained, and flowing sound on the piano.
The Alberti bass is typically found in the left hand of pieces for keyboard instruments, especially in the piano pieces of composers like Mozart. However, it can also be found in pieces for other instruments.
The Alberti bass serves as a filler pattern of continuous accompaniment to a melody and creates the illusion of harmonic change, even when the harmonies remain the same. It adds rhythmic drive and energy to the music, compensating for the energetic drive of the Baroque basso continuo line.
Overall, the Alberti bass is a distinctive accompaniment technique that adds texture, movement, and harmonic interest to music compositions, particularly in the keyboard repertoire of the Classical and Romantic periods.
A stereotyped accompaniment played on a keyboard instrument with the left hand. The chords of the Alberti bass are played as arpeggios, or broken chords. Named for Domenico Alberti ca. (1710 - 1740) who used them extensively, they are quite common to the works of Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and early Ludwig van Beethoven.
The Alberti bass pattern uses a three pitch chord with the pattern - lowest pitch - highest pitch - middle pitch - highest pitch. The example shows the pattern of B - G sharp - D - G sharp (lowest pitch - highest pitch - middle pitch - highest pitch) . This example is also in triple meter, so the third beat repeats the pattern of the second beat . A duple meter would employ the pattern as described. Alberti bass refers only to this pattern and not to any arpeggiated pattern or broken chords played in the left hand.
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