B A S 



BASSIUS, Hesry, in Bhjrajih, fon of Gerard Baffius, 

 or Bafs, a furgejn of eminence at Bremen, born in 1690. In 

 17 13, he went to H:ille, where he (liidicd medicine under 

 Frederic Hodman, in 1715 to Stradnirg, and two years 

 after to Baflc ; attaching liimfelf paiticnlarly to acquiring a 

 knowledge of the improvements that had been lately made 

 in anatomy and furgery. Returning thence to Halle, he 

 was created dodor in medicine ; and foon after profelTor in 

 anatomy and finger)', which office he continued to hold till 

 the time ofliis death, March 5th 1754. His works arc," Dif- 

 patatio de lilhila ani ftlicitcr curanda," 8vo. 1718 ; " Ob- 

 fcrvationes anatomico-ehirurg'co-medicx," Halve 1731, with 

 figures, reprefenting fonie inftruments invented by the 

 author, — a work nuich comrjiiided by Haller ; " Traftatiis 

 de morbis venereis," Lipfue 1764, Hvo. ; a poftlmmous 

 work, to which the editor has added fome valuable obferva- 

 tions. He alfo publifiud, in the German language, " Com- 

 mentaries on Nuck's Art of Surgery," 8vo. 1728. Hallcr. 

 Bib. Anat. ct Chir. Eloy. Did. Hift. 



BASSO CoNTiNuo, in Mrfc, origisally meant the. ac- 

 companiment to the higher parts of a fonata, concerto, or 

 chorus, in whatever cliif it was written, v.hich ferved as a 

 bafe, when the real bafe was fileiit ; as in fugues, and other 

 movements ; to let the accompanier on the organ or iiarp!-- 

 chordknow what was doing by the other inftruments, while 

 his part was at reft. This may ftill be fccn in the organ 

 part (organo) to CortUi'x Sonatas, Op. Ima, which were 

 compofed in the fcventeenth century, after which thecuftom 

 was difcontinucd, there being no inftance of it in his other 

 works. Though in the fonatas of Baffani, hismafter, and in 

 thofe of Torelli, it is conftant. Handel, in his hautbois con- 

 certos, and in his twelve grand concertos, calls the ripicno 

 bafe, bafTo continue. 



It was to this kind of choral bafe for the organ or 

 harpfichord, in eccleiiaillcal mufic, that the harmony of the 

 whole fcore, without a treble part, was fird exprcfled by 

 figures over the bafe notes. BalTo continuo, by an aukward 

 iranflation, is, in Englilh, fynonimous w'ith thoroii^h-bafe 

 which fee. 



It was in the beginning of the fcventeenth century that 

 I..udovico Viadana (not Viana, as erroneoufly written by 

 RoulTeau, and copied from him in both editions of the E;i- 

 eyclopedle) one of the moft dillinguilbed eccleliaftical com- 

 pofers of that time, invented the indication of chords 

 by figugjs, in what the Italians call the bafTo continuo, and 

 the Englilh thoroiighbafe, or accompaniment on keyed in- 

 Aruments, lutes, harps, and, in recitatives, even violoncellos; 

 but we have found feveral inllances of the minute bc^innintrs 

 of this expedient before the time of \'iadana ; though he 

 was donbtlefs the firil who drew up general rules for ex- 

 preffing harmony by figures over the bafe in 1615. Draudius, 

 in an ample lill of his ecclefiaftical compofitions, which were 

 ■veiy numerous, tells us of one that authenticates his claim to 

 this invention, which was a colledlion of all liis choral pieces, 

 of one, two, three, and four parts ; " with a continued and 

 general bafe, adapted to the organ according to a new inven- 

 tion, and ufeful for every fmger as wtll as organift ; to which 

 are added fhort rules and explanations for -accompanying a 

 general bale, according to the new method." Viadana was 

 therefore the firll who compofed an organ-bafe different 

 from the voice-part, in the execution of which the new-in- 

 vented figures enabled the performer to give the fingers the 

 ■whole harmony of the feveral parts of a full compofition, 

 without feeing the fcore. 



In 1731, Matthefon, in his "(pjofTc general bade fcl)ulc 

 oDer ttr cxeinplarifclien ojsaniftcn piobcii," a treatife 

 «>B thorori;li-ba;«, has given a li.l of twenty-two writers 



B A S 



on accompaniment from the time of Its inrention In 

 1G06. The invention has been indifputably figured to 

 Viadana in Draudius's Catal. ii. (Draudio Bib'.iotheca Claf- 

 fica, zvols. 4tc. Frankofurti 1625.), where there i> a lill of 

 all his works, and among the rcll, " Dn. Ludovici Viadanx 

 Itali opera omnia facrorum concertuum, 1, 2, 3, & 4. voc. 

 cum baflb continuo & generali, organo applicato, rovaque 

 inventione pro omni genere et forte cantorum et orgatiiiiaruin 

 accommodjita. Adjun.na infuper in baffo generali hujns 

 novx inventionis inftrnclione et fuccinc'.a explicatione, Latine, 

 Ital. et Germ. ap. Steiniiim4. 1613." 



In the lill which Matth.efon has given of twenty-two 

 authors on accompanin-ent before 1731, it is ohiervable that 

 • only one traiS is in Englilh ; and that written by Keller a 

 German, who lived in queen Anne's time, and dedicated to 

 her majelly fix fonatas for two flutes and a bafe. 



In Ramcau's fyftenn, and ftill lefs in that of the abbe 

 Feytou, as- tlie fundamental bafe can have no melody, but 

 what arifes from its own harmony or fingle common chord, 

 la baflt continue may be regarded as a kind of low treble 

 under the violins and tenor, or as a variation of the funda- 

 mental bafe. 



Basso Slrclln, Ital. abafe confined to a few bars or notes, 

 repeated to d h'^erent and varied treble parts. The Englifu 

 call this kind of monotonous movement a ground. During 

 the feventeent'i century, the Italians and their imitators were 

 very fond of writing upon a ground-bafe ; Stradella and 

 Purcell frequently manittilcd their ingenuity under fuch re- 

 llriclions ; nor liad the faftiion quite fubilded in Handel's 

 time, as miay be feen in the laft chorus of his Dcttingen Te 

 Deum, and elfewhere in his numerous and admirable works. 

 See Ground, Ciacona, and Chaconne. 



Basso Cantante, Ital. BnJJl/J<:, Fr. the vocal bafe-part, or 

 the bafe finger in an oratorio, opera, or concert. 



Basso Re/ievo, Italian, Bas-reliif, French, in Sculpture, is 

 the rcprefentation of figures on a back ground, in fuch a man- 

 ner that no part of them is detached from it ; alto relievo, 

 high relief, has the grofler parts attached to the back ground 

 whilft the fmaller parts are free from it : fome diftinguilh a 

 third kind, orm.ezzo relievo, middle relief, between both ; al- 

 though it mufl be acknowledged that all three kinds are im- 

 plied, in a genersl mode of fpeaking, by the common term of 

 bafTo-relievo, or bas-relief, becaTSfealmoft all figures in relievo, 

 even alto relievo, are more coniprefled or flattened than their 

 infulated archetypes in nature. This, like many other terms 

 in the ait of dcfign, is of modern date, and was mofl likely 

 invented or at leaft compounded and applied, in the eleventh 

 or twelfth centuries, when feulpture and architecfure began 

 to revive in Italy, and thefe kinds of works became a very 

 cr.nfidcrable decoration to the new cathedrals. The Greeks, 

 to whom we muft look for the bcft definitions in this art, 

 as well as the moft excellent works, called this Ipeciesfimply 

 anaglypta, carved (Pii::y, lib. 33. c. 11.); that which we 

 call alto-relievo was diftingliiftied by them from the low-re- 

 lief, by the word, toieuticen, rounded. Pliny, 1. 34. c. H. 



Baflb-rellevo, although a confideiable province of feulp- 

 ture, is in a particular manner allied to architecture and 

 under its dominion ; as any confiderable work of this kind 

 muft be made for the pediment, frieze, or pannel of a build- 

 ing, or architectural form, fuch as a farcophagus or pcdellal : 

 and therefore the general fhape of the ground, the diftri- 

 bution and projection of the figures, mull be fubfervient to 

 the furrounding and containirg parts, in order that they may 

 produce a beautilul whole. 



It is well remarked by the authors of the French Ency- 

 clopedic, that " the origin of bafTo-relievo is confounded 

 with that of the hieroglyphic ; that is to fay, it owes its 



birth 



