Hello, could somebody please clarify 2 questions I have about 2 of the Bach Chorale exercises in exercise 42 in Anna Butterworth's HIP book.

My first is for the exercise in C minor, R45, the chord figuration is 6 on the 1st beat, 5 on the second. The bass note is a B natural minim, so the 1st chord is G major in 1st inversion, V7b. However I was thinking the 5 would mean vii dim - a BDF triad, but the answer book shows the chord as B G D F. I assume then that the 6 5 figuration was referring to one note - 6 above the bass, resolving to 5 above the bass. Am I correct? The 6 was in the soprano and tenor part, but only the soprano part comes down to the F, it would mean consecutives if both did I suppose. If the composer had wanted a BDF chord, perhaps there would be no number 5 underneath, so a 5-3 chord would just be assumed. Anyway it's confused me a bit.

The second question is about the following exercise. R38 in A minor. The soprano line for the 4th chord of the 1st bar has 2 quavers - D-C. These are above a bass note of D, the chord being iv. I had put an F in the alto, but my next chord had E in the alto and B in the soprano (it was a V chord). The last quaver 'C' in the soprano from the iv chord is clearly a passing note, but having F in the alto, then E in the alto for the next chord, does this count as consectutive 5ths? I wasn't sure if it would since the C is not really part of the iv chord. However when I play the passage, the 5th created by the passing note and the following P5 interval do sound weak together. Anna Butterworth has harmonized the answer in a different way in the book, a little irritatingly doubling the root of a 1st inversion chord, when she clearly states earlier in the book, it's best not to do this at first, so I didn't think to do that in my answer.

Anyway, I hope my questions makes sense and appreciate any answers clarifying this for me.

Thanks :-)

Not got the book but if it's 6/5 (6 over 5) then that's your V7b in that key.
A suspension resolving on the next note would be 6 - 5.

No it's not 6 over 5. Nor does it show 6-5. Although the exercise is about suspensions, the suspension is a 4-3 and marked later. I don't think the 6 can be a suspension - it's notes are B G D G. The 6 underneath is just referring to the fact it's a 1st inversion chord I think. I'm confused about the 5 labelling after the 6 being given the notes B G D F is the answer book.

I think the 5 is because of the F...normally they wouldn't put the 5 as it is a 53 root chord, but they had to put the 5 because it isn't a passing note, it's a new chord, just with the inner parts not changing. That's how I would see it, but I might be wrong!!

And as for the 2nd question, I'm not sure myself!

I always thought that "6 5" was a shorthand for "6 5 3" and they didn't write the 3 because it was just assumed. In this case the bass note is B so, counting up, the other notes in the chord would be D, F and G.

The other inversions of the dominant seventh are:
G B D F - "7" instead of the full notation "7 5 3"
B D F G - "6 5" instead of the full notation "6 5 3"
D F G B - "4 3" instead of the full notation "6 4 3"
F G B D - "4 2" instead of the full notation "6 4 2"

To clarify again, the 6 5 is over 2 beats, it's not 6 with a 5 under it. It's 6 for the 1st beat, 5 for the second.

Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say the 5 is prepared as a suspension. The chord marked 6 is (bass upwards) B G D G, then the following chord marked 5 is B G D F. So yes, the soprano does come down by step. The chord has changed from G 1st inversion, to G7 1st inversion. I'm just not sure why it has a 5 underneath it.

I don't see why there is a G in the 2nd chord form the figuring you give.