MUSC 320: Basso continuo

The cache is not at the posted coordinates. This tribute cache is a continuation of the MUSC series created by tortuga del fuego. Congratulations to mtn_goat for the FTF.

In Baroque Music, basso continuo is the art of playing a composed bass part and improvising an harmonic accompaniment based upon notations found in the score.

Composers of the baroque era (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann to name a few) would often compose the melodic lines and the other principal voices in a musical work, but they would use a shorthand notation in the bass part to indicate the base line and the remainder of the harmony. This shorthand bass part, called a figured bass or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords and other tones in relation to the bass note.

Continuo was standard practice in art music from roughly 1600 to the later 1700's, although examples do exist well into the 19th century. One late example is Anton Bruckner's Requiem in D minor, written in 1849.

While the practice flourished, reading music from a figured bass part was a skill that all keyboard players were expected to have. To master this skill, they needed to have a good understanding of music theory and especially harmony. Reading from a figured bass part, they would be required to fill in the necessary harmonic components, but might also improvise additional ornamental bits as well.

The following example shows the opening 13 bars of the actual basso continuo part from Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata "Komm, du süsse Todesstunde", composed in Weimar in 1715. Bach's original score did not include the letters in boxes. I added those to help you find the cache.

The cache can be found here:

North [B-D][C+E] [S-A][J+U-L].[X-U][V+Y][N-Z]
West [R][Q+P-J][T-H] [K+M][Z-G].[X+Y][I-D][F]

You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

Please bring your own writing utensil.

Update on 08/14/2011: I had a conversation yesterday with a geocacher about this puzzle, and to level the playing field I want to pass along on this page the important points that were talked about. To solve this puzzle you'll need some understanding (perhaps at just a basic level) of functional harmony or music theory. What will make this puzzle a bit more difficult is the use of figured bass, an all-but-obsolete type of notation that is used to notate the harmony. If you think you know what all this means but you can't make the numbers work, then drop me an email and let me know what you've tried. I'll see if I can get you on the right path.

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