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The three most common augmented sixth chords in the tonalities of C major and C
minor: Italian sixth, French sixth, and German sixth.
In music theory, an augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented
sixth, usually above its bass tone. This chord has its origins in the Renaissance,[1] further
developed in the Baroque, and became a distinctive part of the musical style of the
Classical and Romantic periods.[2] Conventionally used with a predominant function
(resolving to the dominant), the three more common types of augmented sixth chords
are usually called Italian sixth, French sixth, and German sixth.
Contents
[hide]
2 Types
o 2.1 Italian sixth
o 2.2 French sixth
o 2.3 German sixth
6 Extended functions
o 6.1 Augmented sixth chords as altered dominant chords with flattened
2nd degree
o 6.2 Enharmonicity to other chords
7 Tristan chord
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 Books
Double-diminished triad[edit]
In music theory, the double-diminished triad is an archaic concept and term referring to
a triad, or three note chord, which, already being minor, has its root raised a semitone,
making it doubly diminished. However, this may be used as the derivation of the
augmented sixth chord.[4]
For example, F-A-C is a minor triad. F-A-C is a doubly diminished triad. Note that it
is enharmonically equivalent to G-A-C (incomplete dominant seventh [missing E]),
the tritone substitute resolving to G. Its inversion, A-C-F, is the Italian augmented
sixth chord resolving to G.
Types[edit]
There are three main types of augmented sixth chords, commonly known as Italian
sixth, French sixth, and German sixth. Though each is named after a European
nationality, theorists disagree on their precise origins and have struggled for centuries to
define their roots, and fit them into conventional harmonic theory.[3][5][6] According to
Kosta & Payne, the other two terms are similar to the Italian sixth, which, "has no
historical authenticity-[being] simply a convenient and traditional label."[7]
Italian sixth[edit]
Play (helpinfo)
The Italian sixth (It or It ) is derived from iv with an altered fourth scale degree,
4: 614; ACF in C major and C minor. This is the only augmented sixth
chord comprising just three distinct notes; in four-part writing, the tonic pitch is
doubled.
The second movement of Beethoven's piano sonata in F-sharp major, op. 78, begins
with an Italian sixth chord. Play (helpinfo)
The Italian sixth is enharmonically equivalent to an incomplete dominant seventh.[8]
French sixth[edit]
Play (helpinfo)
The French sixth (Fr or Fr ) is similar to the Italian, but with an additional tone, 2:
6124; ACDF in C major and C minor. The notes of the French sixth
chord are all contained within the same whole tone scale, lending a sonority common to
French music in the 19th century (especially associated with Impressionist music).[9]
German sixth[edit]
The German sixth (Gr or Ger ) is also like the Italian, but with an added tone 3:
6134; ACEF in C major and C minor. In Classical music,
however, it appears in much the same places as the other variants, though perhaps less
used because of the contrapuntal difficulties outlined below. It appears frequently in the
works of Beethoven.[a] The German sixth chord contains the same notes as a dominant
seventh chord (enharmonically), though it functions differently.
It is more difficult to avoid parallel fifths when resolving a German sixth chord to the
dominant, V. These parallel fifths, referred to as Mozart fifths, were occasionally
accepted by common practice composers. There are two ways they can be avoided:
1. The 3 can move to either 1 or 2, thereby generating an Italian or French sixth,
respectively, and eliminating the perfect fifth between 6 and 3.[10]
2. The chord can resolve to a "six-four" chord, functionally either as a cadential
six-four intensification of V, or as the second inversion of I; the cadential sixfour, in turn, resolves to a root-position V. This progression ensures that, in its
voice leading, each pair of voices moves either by oblique motion or contrary
motion and avoids parallel motion altogether. In minor modes, both 1 and 3 do
not move during the resolution of the German sixth to the cadential six-four. In
major modes, 3 can be enharmonically respelled as 2 if it resolves upwards to
3, similar in voice leading to the resolution of French sixth to the cadential sixfour. This respelled chord is sometimes referred to as the English, Swiss or
Alsatian sixth chord,[citation needed] or as a "'doubly augmented sixth chord"',[citation needed]
as it contains two augmented intervals. However, other sources describe it as a
German sixth, such as Grove.[11]
A German sixth chord from Michael Haydn's Requiem in C minor, first movement. (
Listen)
Other variants[edit]
Other variants of augmented sixth chords are sometimes found in the repertoire, and are
sometimes given whimsical geographical names. For example: 4672; (FA
BD) is called by one source an Australian sixth.[12] Such anomalies usually have
alternative interpretations.
A tesseract. The diminished seventh chords occupy points on two diagonally opposite
corners.
Starting with a diminished seventh chord, lower any factor by semitone. The
result is equivalently a German sixth chord.
From the German sixth chord, lower any factor by semitone so that the result is
ancohemitonic (i.e.: possesses no halfsteps). The result is a French sixth chord or
minor seventh chord possibly posing as augmented 6th.
From the French sixth chord or minor seventh chord possibly posing as
augmented 6th, there exists a factor which, when lowered by semitone, gives a
result equivalently a half-diminished seventh chord possibly posing as
augmented 6th.
From the half-diminished seventh chord possibly posing as augmented 6th, there
exists a factor which, when lowered by semitone, gives a result equivalently a
diminished seventh chord at the interval 1 semitone lower than the diminished
seventh chord which started the sequence.
Three repetitions of the above complete the cycle in modulo-12 note space,
forming a necklace of three tesseracts joined at opposite corners by diminished
seventh chords and subsuming all 12 notes of the chromatic scale.
The minor seventh chord may also have its interval of minor seventh (between root and
seventh degree, i.e.: { C B } in { C E G B } ) rewritten as an augmented sixth { C E
G A }.[16] Rearranging and transposing, this gives { A C E F }, a virtual minor
version of the German augmented sixth chord.[19] Again like the typical +6, this
enharmonic interpretation gives on a resolution irregular for the minor seventh but
normal for the augmented sixth, where the 2 voices at the enharmonic major second
converge to unison or diverge to octave.[18]
Excerpt from Bach's Mass in B minor. At the end of the second measure, the augmented
sixth is inverted to create a diminished third or tenth between the bass and the soprano
(CE); these two voices resolve inward to an octave Play (helpinfo)
Root positions of the augmented sixth chords in the tonality of C, according to Simon
Sechter.[24]
Simon Sechter explains the chord of the French Sixth as being a chromatically altered
version of a seventh chord on the second degree of the scale. The German Sixth is
explained as a chromatically altered ninth chord on the same root, but with the root
omitted.[24]
The tendency of the interval of the augmented sixth to resolve outwards is therefore
explained by the fact that the A, being a dissonant note, a diminished fifth above the
root (D), and flatted, must fall, whilst the F - being chromatically raised - must rise.
Extended functions[edit]
In the late Romantic period and other musical traditions, especially jazz, other harmonic
possibilities of augmented sixth variants and sonorities outside its function as a
predominant were explored, exploiting their particular properties. An example of this is
through the "reinterpretation" of the harmonic function of a chord: Since a chord could
simultaneously have more than one enharmonic spelling with different functions (i.e.,
both predominant as a German sixth and dominant as a dominant seventh), its function
could be reinterpreted mid-phrase. This heightens both chromaticism by making
possible the tonicization of remote keys, and possible dissonances with the juxtaposition
of remotely related keys.
An Italian sixth chord built on scale degree 2. Here the Italian sixth chord functions as
a substitute for the dominant, with which it shares the third and seventh. Schubert's A
major sonata, D. 959. Play (helpinfo)
Classical harmonic theory would notate the "tritone substitute" as an augmented sixth
chord on 2. The Augmented sixth chord can either be the It+6 enharmonic to a dominant
7th chord without the 5th, Gr+6, enharmonically equivalent to a dominant 7th chord with
the 5th, or Fr+6 enharmonically equivalent to the Lydian dominant without the 5th, all of
which serve in a classical context as a substitute for the secondary dominant of V.[27][28]
Dominant functions[edit]
All variants of augmented sixth chords are closely related to the applied dominant V7 of
II; both Italian and German variants are enharmonically identical to dominant seventh
chords. For example, in the key of C (I), the German sixth chord, ACEF,
could be reinterpreted as ACEG, the applied dominant of D (V/D).
Tristan chord[edit]
Main article: Tristan chord
Richard Wagner's Tristan chord (indicated below with Tr) from the opening of his
opera, Tristan und Isolde, can be interpreted as a half-diminished seventh that
transitions to a French sixth in the key of A minor (F-A-B-D). The upper voice
continues upward with a long appoggiatura (G to A). Note that the D resolves
downwards to D instead of E:
Tristan chord analyzed as a French sixth with appoggiatura and dominant seventh with
passing tone in A minor [31]
This may be a result of eliding the downward resolution in order to make another
French sixth (E-G-A-D) which incidentally shares three notes with the dominant of
the excerpt.[original research?]
See also[edit]