ABSTRACT
For Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and their contemporaries, instrumental music in three voices provided the opportunity for an almost ideal texture: two melodic voices that can intertwine with each other while being supported by an active bass line, and producing full harmonies all together. The great number of trio sonatas, two melody instruments and continuo written during the Baroque era. In trio-sonata texture, the three voices themselves are usually harmonically sufficient. Most of the time, the continuo player is not so much filling out missing harmonies as filling in the space between the bass line and the second melody instrument. Complementary rhythm refers to the musical situation in which two or more simultaneous parts keep up a fairly consistent level of rhythmic activity between them. Sequences in three voices are similar to those in two voices: they function in the same way within a piece, tend to use the same harmonic patterns, and exhibit the same types.
