Alberti Bass
(Al-BUR-tee-Bays)
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
.
Play example (MIDI file format)
Dictionary Home