Improvisation 17 "Ground Bass Lament for Accordion"

Despite containing only four notes, the lament basslines is one of the most frequently used melodic and harmonic gestures in all of Western music. The line consists of a stepwise descent from the tonic down to the dominant with as much repetition as is desired. Occasionally the line is filled in with the intervening chromatic notes, creating a chromatic wending down to scale degree five. Some of the most famous examples of this bassline are Monteverdi's "Lamento della Ninfa," Purcell's "Dido's Lament," the Beatles's "I'll Be Back," and the Mamas & Papas' "California Dreamin'."
First surfacing in either 1822 or 1829, the accordion now holds a particular association with the folk music of several European cultures (especially Western European cultures such as Russia and Hungary). Operating on essentially the same mechanism as a regular organ, the accordion has a piano keyboard for the right hand of the player and a row of buttons arranged by fifths for the left hand. For my accordion, I have a row of three buttons: the top button for a single note, the middle for a major chord, and the last for a minor chord. Other accordions may have additional buttons for dominant sevenths and diminished chords.
For this improvisation, I used the standard ground bass formula of an infinitely repeating bassline. I did not improvise with any particular form in mind this time.
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Recordings:
Monteverdi "Lamento della Ninfa" (Sung by a very beautiful countertenor voice. Although it may be jarring to some, the countertenor voice is probably closer to what Monteverdi composed for.): • C. Monteverdi / Lament...
Mamas & Papas: "California Dreamin'": • The Mamas & The Papas ...
Beatles "I'll Be Back": • I'll Be Back (Remaster...
Nina Simone "Strange Fruit" (The classic anti-lynching ballade by Jewish songwriter Abel Meeropol reimagined with a lament bassline. On an unrelated note, the Meeropol family adopted the orphans of the spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg): • Nina Simone - Strange ...
Purcell "Dido's Lament": • Purcell - Dido & Aenea...
References:
"Accordion." Encyclopedia Brittannica, www.britannica.com/art/accordion
Paintings (in order of appearance):
Jean-François Millet The Sheepfold
Jean-François Millet Shepherdess with her Flock (1864)
Jean-François Millet The Angelus (1857-1859)
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