Stanislao Mattei

Piccolo Basso(The Little Bass)

Excerpted from his

Prattica d'accompagnamentosopra bassi numerati

Ricordi & Co.Milan,

ca. 1891

Stanislao Mattei (1750–1825) studied with PadreMartini in Bologna, becoming his protegè andsuccessor. Like his teacher, Mattei joined the specialorder of Franciscan monks who worked not in amonastery but in cities.The calling of Martini andMattei was to compose sacred music, to maintainhigh standards in the art of music,and to pass thosestandards on to the new generations. In Martini's casethat involved young masters like Mozart; in Mattei'scase the young masters Rossini and Donizetti.Mattei's student ChristianWeinlig returned home toDresden where he taught Clara Schumann andRichard Wagner.

For each major and minor key, Mattei presentsfour "preparatory cadences," which are smallpartimenti in the chosen key. Each such cadence isfollowed by an extended partimento, carefullyfigured to indicate the many chromatic inflections.

Many of the partimenti here were given four-partrealizations by Mattei. They can be found on thissite under either "Harmony" or "Dispositions."