Alberti bass

An accompaniment figure, found frequently in the left hand of 18-century keyboard music, in which the pitches of three-pitch chords are played successively in the order lowest, highest, middle, highest, as in the accompanying example by Mozart (Sonata in C major K. 545). The figure takes its name from the composer Domenico Alberti (ca. 1710-40), who employed it frequently. The term is sometimes inappropriately extended to refer to any arpeggiated accompaniment figure in the left hand.