I am grateful to the Royal Musical Association for giving me the chance to talk on a subject on which I have been working for over thirty years, and to talk to an audience who know enough about it so that I can go straight in medias res. I am concerned with applying our knowledge of how the basso continuo was played in its own period (from about 1600 to about 1750) to present day conditions. The use of the basso continuo has never quite died out; it has survived until today in some organ lofts, and also as unequalled teaching material for the study of harmonies, not forgetting the odd recitative in some operas. But here I am only concerned with the handling of the form in present-day performances of works of the basso continuo period, which includes all composers from Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach and Handel to C. P. E. Bach, to mention only a few. The great interest in these works demands a revival of the old art of playing the basso continuo. Old and new books on the subject are being studied by conductors, players, editors and instrument makers; some excellent continuo players have appeared; and almost daily new publications with realizations of bassi continui are thrown on the market.