Tonal Harmony - Does a classical composer ever use the #6 chord in minor?
In melodic minor you get a #6 (and #7 ) ascending.
Do composers commonly use the #6 to build a chord on? Are there exceptions?
So in a min you'd get an diminished triad like (F# A C) which would probably sound pretty dissonant.
Doesn't seem like their style?
But what even further confuses me: if you create a melody that had the f# played on a strong beat over a normal VI (F,A,C) it would sound even more dissonant.
(1)1 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
Let's straighten out a bit of terminology to start with. Let's call the melodic degrees in question 6 and 7 when used in the major, and ?6 and ?7 when used unsharped in the minor. You're talking about the substitution of 6 for ?6. Also, there's nary a major third to be seen in F?-A-C - the chord is diminished, not augmented.
Normally F? is going to be a passing note in a rising scale segment from 5 to 1. However, it does present a possibility of being interpreted as part of a strong predominant. A diminished chord on F? would fall into this category fairly neatly (as shown in ex. a), as it would tend to suggest a truncated version of vii°7/V (ex. b) or V?9/V (ex. c). So here, the diminished triad is standing in for the dominant of the dominant. I can't pull out an example in the literature off the top of my head, but the voice leading is so unexceptional that I don't doubt that it has been done.
Diminished chords are generally considered only moderately dissonant - they form, after all, part of the dominant seventh chord.
6 against ?6 does show up in the literature, generally where ?6 is falling to 5 and 6 is rising to 7. There is a rather baldfaced example in 2 voices in Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in A minor K. 3:
Take a look at what is happening in ms. 17, 21 & 25. These all use 6 of the current key in the bass againgst a held ?6 in the soprano. Yes, it is dissonant, probably more dissonant than it would be if mellowed by accompanying thirds, but it makes sense in the context of the voice leading. I haven't run across this cross relation used in exactly the way you posit, but I don't see anything inherently wrong with it, provided the voice leading works:
This uses your cross relation transposed by a fifth to fill out the Scarlatti example.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.