An Illustrated Guide to

The Rule of the Octave

Figure 1 shows, in an abstract and greatly simplified form, how eighteenth-century musicians thought
of the relative stability or instability of the different scale degrees across an octave in the bass. The white
numbered circles represent scale degrees in the bass, the red boxes represent positions felt to be relative-
ly stable points of arrival, and the green circles indicate positions felt to be unstable and more mobile.

j k l m n o p q
Figure 1

As a first approximation of the Rule of the Octave, we can imagine that the stable scale degrees re-
ceive a 5/3 chord (a simple triad as in do-mi-sol) and that the unstable degrees will take some form of a
chord with a 6, perhaps 6/3 (as in re-fa-si). This simplified version of the Rule of the Octave (see Figure
2) highlights the great continuity in the traditions of polyphonic music, inasmuch as it has a great deal
in common with late Medieval and Renaissance descriptions of fauxbourdon singing. In fauxbourdon,
choristers gave perfect consonances (5, 8) to the first and last tones of a phrase of Gregorian chant, and
imperfect consonances (3, 6) to the middle tones.

j k l m n o p q
Figure 2

5 6 6 6 5 6 6 5
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Like the melodic minor scale, the Rule of the Octave is different when ascending or descending. So for a
better approximation, let us examine movement up and down separately. Figure 3 presents the ascend-
ing version. Dissonances (clashes between a “6” and a “5,” as marked by stars in Fig. 3) were added to
the scales degrees that precede the stable positions. So as one ascends the scale in the bass, maximum
instability (on m and p) occurs just before a return to stability.

j k l m n o p q
Figure 3

5 6 6 6 5 6 6 5
3 3 3 5 3 3 5 3
3 3
The same principle applies when descending, though the dissonances are now between a “4” and a “3.”
In the descent from o to n, the interval “6” is raised a half step to create a leading-tone (F# in a C-
major context) to the stable n, thus giving k and o the same sonority.

j k l m n o p q
Figure 4

5 6 6 6 5 #6 6 5
3 4 3 3 3 4 3 3
3 3
There is still one more complication (see Fig. 5). The third scale degree was deemed partly stable, partly
mobile. Following the principle of dissonance before stability, musicians often added a “4/3” dissonance
to a rising k, and almost always added a “4/2” dissonance to a m descending from n.

j k l m n o p q
Figure 5

6 6 6
4 3 4
3 2
Figure 6 shows how dissonance and directional movement in the bass combine to continually empha-
size the 5/3 triads on j, n, and q, and to a lesser extent the somewhat stable 6/3 chord on l.

p j k l m n o p q k
Figure 6

Given the many combinations possible among degrees, directions, dissonances, and sonorities (e.g.,
5/3 vs. 6/3), “the” Rule of the Octave is not a fixed set of chords. Instead it serves as a summary or norm
of the fluid and highly context-dependent practices of eighteenth-century musicians. Beginners, often
young children, were taught a basic form of the Rule of the Octave, and that form can be found near the
opening of most manuscripts of partimento rules (It.: Regole), including those by Fenaroli, Furno, and
Insanguine included on this website. Please refer to those documents for the Rule of the Octave in stan-
dard musical notation.

In Furno’s manuscript he points out common departures from the basic Rule of the Octave. For example,
a descending m that does not descend from n may be played as a simple triad, as can a o when it
is left by leap. When the bass leaps, especially in sequences, many of the resulting patterns fall under
the headings of “Bass Motions,” which are dealt with separately in the Regole. Some maestros wrote out
complex and more chromatic ways of harmonizing a scale in the bass, calling each new type a Rule.
But only the basic Rule of the Octave achieved wide recognition. During the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries it would have been hard to find any highly trained musician who did not know the Rule of the
Octave.

There is a manuscript preserved in Modena, Italy that had been a workbook at one of the Naples conser-
vatories for a 13-year-old boy named Domenico Cimarosa (pronounced “chim-a-ROSE-ah”). We know
this because the boy, later a famous composer, scribbled his name on several pages and wrote the year
(1762) on the first page. From his workbook we can see that he was studying partimenti. If Cimarosa
had learned only the Rule of the Octave and a few cadences he still could have made a good start on
realizing these partimenti. Below you will find the opening passages from the first two partimenti in his
workbook, each now marked with scale degrees and keys (Cimarosa only saw the notes; he had to work
out the scale degrees and keys). Below each partimento your editor has provided a sample realization
following only the Rule of the Octave, simple cadences, and the basics of counterpoint.

Figure 6 The opening of the first partimento in Cimarosa’s workbook.

D Major
G Major
G Major

j n j l k n lkj m l j k n lk j npn o o p p

C Major D Major
G Major

j j npn o o p p j j ml
o o p p j l m n n n n j

Figure 7 A sample realization of Fig. 6, with one added voice (disposizione a due)
Figure 8 The opening of the second partimento in Cimarosa’s workbook

C Minor
G Minor

j l p j o n n o n m l n o n m

Bb Major
F Major

l n o n m l n o n m l k j m n n j j j

Figure 9 A sample realization of Fig. 8, with two added voices (disposizione a tre)

Success with partimenti requires learning to scan a bass to recognize the local keys and their scale de-
grees. The Rule of the Octave is only helpful if one knows which octave is the right one for the passage
in question. Apprentice musicians have always needed to work on these skills. Alois Förster, a friend and
colleague of Beethoven, gave his students exercises in which the scale degrees were already marked for
them. The image below (Fig. 10) is from one of his exercises (ca. 1818).

Figure 10 From p. 31 of E. A. Förster’s Practical Examples (Practische Beyspiele, Vienna, 1818)

FONTE
F# Minor E Minor D Major

Rule of the Octave:

m n j j j p o n p j j j p o n p j
The publisher of Förster’s exercise used a “1” that looks to modern eyes much like a “4,” so circled
numbers have been added below Förster’s for the sake of clarity. Although Förster indicated an advanced
harmonization for his bass, the dashed lines drawn below the circled numbers show how much of his
exercise could have been harmonized with just the Rule of the Octave.

The local keys labelled above the image in Figure 10 align with Förster’s degree numbers. Förster did not
treat overlapping key contexts, which would have required two or more rows of numbers. He seems to
mark a modulation only when an accidental signals a change of scale. That approach can be too rigid
and can fail to account for changes in the interpretive context. The musical present is poised between
memory and expectation. The F# bass in measure two of Figure 10 is the expected goal (= j) of a
cadence in the key of F# minor. When the F# bass in measure three enters an octave higher, it can be re-
membered as a k at the beginning of the E-minor passage. And when the excerpt ends in D major, that
same F# bass can be faintly remembered as a l. That larger view is supported by a bass pattern that the
Italians called “down a fifth, up a fourth” (i.e., F#–B–E–A–D) and that the Germans called a “circle of
fifths.” Please refer to Figure 6, measure 5, for an example of how to handle an overlapping key context
through two sets of numbers.

After learning the Rule of the Octave a student would progress to cadences. As mentioned, the first two
measures of Figure 10 present a cadence. By “cadence” we mean a pattern whose shape and meaning
one has come to recognize from experience. In working through partimenti, a student will learn to rec-
ognize a number of patterns that can be used for different types of themes and passagework. The excerpt
from Förster’s exercise includes, for example, a “Fonte” (pronounced “FONE-tay”; Italian for a well or
spring, as in “going down a well”). A Fonte combines a brief passage in minor with a similar passage
one step lower in major (in Fig. 10, E minor descending to D major). An inventory of many such useful
patterns can be found on this website under the heading “Schemas.” The Rule of the Octave was itself
described as a schema as early as 1711 by Johann David Heinichen.