figured bass 
noun Music
A bass line with the intended harmonies indicated by figures rather than written out as chords, typical of continuo parts in baroque music.So actually, beyond Bach, what was the ground bass, or the figured bass, actually evolves, and takes on new forms in later forms of composition....
- Dr Sawkins added a figured bass line. He made 1,139 corrections and additions to the notation necessary to make the music playable;
- Otherwise, composing instruction in the mid-19th century seems to have stuck stubbornly to a mixture of figured bass and so-called strict counterpoint.