Change "chords" to "sonorities"
[NOTE: This is a misinterpretation of the progression. A cadential six-four would not appear on the last (extremely weak) 8
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- German augmented sixth chords
- [NOTE: Need to provide an example that shows the threatening parallel fifth in order to drive the point home and show how the six-four alleviates the problem.]
[NOTE: This is a misinterpretation of the progression. A cadential six-four would not appear on the last (extremely weak) 8th of a bar. The metric characteristic of a cadential six-four is that it is accented. Here, the first six-four is an auxiliary sonority, a passing chord between a root-position IV and what would have been a first-inversion IV were it not for the chromatic alteration, 4 to #4, which of course foreshadows and prepares for the arriving A6 chord. Only after the latter does the cadential six-four arrive, albeit this time not on a metric accent, but this is not uncommon in ¾ time since the temporal convention is for the 6/4 to resolve on the next beat to a 5/3, which typically, as here, falls on a weak beat leading to a strong-beat arrival of tonic. The passage needs rewriting, not necessarily clarifying the passage as I have here, but perhaps just stating that the A6 leads to a cadential 6/4. If you think it useful, then provide the full explanation.] German augmented sixth chords: The third type of augmented sixth chord has a thicker texture still. Andre, on page 7 you write: "German augmented sixth chords: The third type of augmented sixth chord has a thicker texture still." How does the Ger6 have a thicker texture than the Fr6? German augmented sixth chords—the most commonly used variety—consist of the same augmented sixth filled in with scale degrees 1 and, instead of scale degree 2, now with b3 (3 in minor). It is sometimes referred to as an augmented  chord. Because b3 forms a perfect fifth above b3, the resolution of the German sixth is typically offset by a cadential  chord to avoid parallel fifths. On page 6 you write: "Because b3 forms a perfect fifth above b3..." The second b3 should be b6. This is shown in the following example where the perfect fifth in the left hand (F and C) is mediated obliquely by a minor sixth (E and C) before arriving at the perfect fifth of the V chord (E and B):
[NOTE: Need to provide an example that shows the threatening parallel fifth in order to drive the point home and show how the six-four alleviates the problem.] Example 12: 
Another interesting property of the German sixth is that the chord is enharmonically equivalent to a dominant seventh chord. If the D# in Example 12 were respelled as Eb, the chord (F, A, C, and Eb) could be interpreted as V7 in the key of Bb. Composers often take advantage of that coincidence as a modulatory device. We will return to that device momentarily. The following excerpt provides a clear example of the German augmented sixth chord: Example 13 (L. Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 8, Op .13 (“Pathetique”), Mvt. III, mm. 5-8): 
In m. 6, the presence of F# makes a German augmented sixth chord out of what would otherwise be heard as VI. As expected, the resolution of the augmented sixth is delayed by a cadential chord, offsetting the parallel fifths from Ab and Eb to G and D.
Directory: Online-Remedial-Music-Theory-Program -> Lesson NNN - Augmented Sixth Sonorities -> Drafts Drafts -> Lesson nnn: Augmented Sixth Sonorities Introduction Online-Remedial-Music-Theory-Program -> Lesson ggg – Seventh Chords Introduction Online-Remedial-Music-Theory-Program -> Lesson ggg: Seventh Chords Introduction Online-Remedial-Music-Theory-Program -> Lesson eee: The Dominant Seventh Chord Introduction Online-Remedial-Music-Theory-Program -> Lesson ooo: Other Chromatic Harmonies Introduction Online-Remedial-Music-Theory-Program -> Lesson aaa – Basic Interval Progressions Introduction Download 0.85 Mb. Share with your friends:
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