In recent years, efforts to achieve interpretations that do justice to the criteria of “historical performance practice” have become de rigueur in the world of early music. Not only has this affected the instruments and performance techniques used by soloists, it also impinges on the “musical foundation”: the accompaniment.

In his figured bass tutor Jesper Bøje Christensen, a teacher at the Schola Cantorum in Basle , shows readers how to produce stylistically accurate figured bass realization...