La cifratura ideale degli accordi: sistemi teorici a confronto (original) (raw)

The need to indicate in summary the chords to be built from a bass voice, in the Baroque era, originated the figured bass notation. This method was used to identify the chords for almost two centuries, then being replaced by the theory of the fundamental degrees. Finally, at the end of the nineteenth century Riemann developed the theory of the harmonic functions. Each of these theoretical systems responds to different needs, linked to the performance practice or to analytical approaches, as in the case of the more recent method. This study's objective is to compare the three theoretical systems, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, especially in view of the teaching of the composition and for the music analysis. The paper concludes with the proposal for a new system of symbols which tries to exploit the advantages of the three traditional systems.