Question: I've done some reading and I've discovered that our modern system of music theory (I'm looking at you Roman numeral analysis) is not the same system that most of the great composers used, including the "Big Three": Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. Apparently, they favored the system of thoroughbass. Bach himself was supposedly against Rameau's theory of harmony, from which our modern system is derived.

I did a little more digging and I managed to find some good texts that I would like to study; however, there are just so many to choose from. It seems that thoroughbass was broken down into two different goals, writing down a realization (taking as much time as necessary to do this), and realizing a figured bass extemporaneously at a keyboard, as if sight reading.

My question is this: **What is the modern approach to teaching/learning thoroughbass?**

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I wonder if a few particular items are still used in modern curricula:

It seems to me that the C.P.E Bach essay, as well as J.S. Bach's precepts and principles, are well known, but are a little difficult. There's also the Albrechtsberger book and a book that seems to be written by Mozart on the subject, though I don't know if the claim of Mozart's authorship is reliable.

Ultimately, I would like to be able to look at a figured bass and be able to provide a realization, either written down or extemporized, in any key.

Answer: 
Thanks to you I have found this link:
<https://www.musik-akademie.ch/dam/jcr:da28dd16-cec4-4f03-8b6c-56c4236bfe9f/Compendium_Generalbass_nur_Text_ohne_Audio.pdf>

It's in German and translated to English. So it will be very fine to me - as I'm here to make an course in English. If you want to learn German too it will be interesting to you too.

As I've had the experience that certain courses are quite theoretical, abstract and not very musically I would prefer in general to study the figured bass on real compositions where Bach or musicians of his epoque have notated the full setting. It will be easy to find both versions in IMSLP.
### TL;DR

The curriculum for one modern course (ca. 2012) is based on:

1. Fux, *The Study of Counterpoint*
2. Morris, *Figured Harmony at the Keyboard*
3. Kearney, *Figured Bass for Beginners*

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I took a course in figured bass as part of a university music degree program. It was considered an upper-level course and the prerequisite was a standard two-year music theory course, which included introductory figured bass concepts.

The foundational material in most modern music theory curricula comes from **Fux's "The Study of Counterpoint"** and his "species" of counterpoint. Fux lays out several "species", starting from the very simple (a melody comprising whole notes — the "cantus firmus" — against which the student writes a whole-note counterpoint) to the more complex, involving the use of suspensions.

Modern textbooks adapt Fux as preparation for the modern, triad-based major/minor system, but the original Fux is based in the pre-Rameau modal system and modeled on Palestrina. His book holds up very well as a learning model, and provides an outstanding starting point toward learning figured bass.

The counterpoint course itself used two books:

1. R.O. Morris, *Figured Harmony at the Keyboard: Part 1* (Oxford University Press, 1933).
2. Helen Keaney, *Figured Bass for Beginners* (E.C. Schirmer Music Company, 1981).

The Morris book is a collection of graded exercises, with chapter-by-chapter explanations of the technique being introduced.

Kearney is a collection of standard realizations of common figured bass techniques and situations. The idea is to memorize the exercises to create a readily available "toolbox".

Used together, these books allow for the development of a very solid foundation.