[200.] When the root is not the bass note, figures are sometimes used to show what chord is to be played or written. Thus, e.g., the figure 6 over a bass note means that the note given is the third of a chord, the root being found by going up a sixth from the bass note: i.e., the chord is to be sounded in its first inversion. In the same way the figures 6/4 indicate that the note given is the fifth of the chord, the root and fifth being found by going up a sixth and a fourth from the note given; i.e., the chord is to be sounded in its second inversion.
The use of these and other similar figures and signs is called figured bass (or thorough bass) notation. An example of a figured bass is given in Fig. 67.
Thorough bass notation was formerly used extensively in writing accompaniments to vocal works, the accompanist having to interpret the notes and signs given, and then to make up an interesting accompaniment as he went along. Much of Handel's music was written in this way, but in modern editions of these works the chords have been printed in full and the signs omitted.
[201.] A seventh chord consists of a fundamental tone with its third, fifth, and seventh. The fifth is sometimes omitted. A ninth chord consists of a fundamental with its third, fifth, seventh, and ninth.
202. A cadence is the close of a musical phrase: in melody it refers to the last two tones; in harmony to the last two chords.
The word cadence is derived from cadere, a Latin word meaning to fall, the reference being to the falling of the voice (i.e., the dropping to the normal pitch) at the close of a sentence.