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Applied Chords to V
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0:02
Hey everybody, welcome back. I’m Seth Monahan, the guy who takes way too long to make these videos, and you are the patient folks who finally get to learn everything about applied chords to V. And let’s start with an example. Here is the slow movement from Mozart’s tenth string quartet. The bass line is built around a very familiar pattern: tonic over scale degree ^1, predominant over scale degree ^4, dominant over scale degree ^5, and then back to tonic.
0:30
But there’s also a chromatic note here: C# in the bass, which is raised scale degree ^4. Now when we listen, I want you to focus on that note. Why do you think it’s there? What purpose does it seem to serve? Or what effect does it have on the surrounding harmonies? Melodically, it’s pretty obvious that the C# connects C and D chromatically, even though it’s got rests on either side. But what about harmonically? After all, by putting that C# in the bass, Mozart makes a new chord on the last beat
1:27
of the bar. So what chord is it? Stacked in thirds, we’ve got A, C#, E, and G. And from the sound of it, I hope you’d recognize the quality as a dominant seventh chord. Well, what do we know about dominant sevenths? One thing we know is that there’s only one in each major key. But we’re in G major, and this is not the dominant of G. That would be D dominant seventh. No: the root of this dominant is A; that makes it V7 of D—which is the chord it resolves to.
2:07
Now if we were in the key of D major, these two chords would just be V6/5 resolving to I. But we’re not in D; we’re in G major. So D is the dominant, and that makes the chord with C# in the bass the dominant of the dominant. More specifically, we can call this chord V6/5 of V, and we label it like this, with a little rightward-facing arrow. And this chord—the dominant of the dominant—belongs to a bigger family of chords called “applied” dominants.
2:51
Applied dominants are chords that have a dominant quality, but which aren’t the normal dominant in the key, and which resolve into some chord other than the tonic. So we just saw V7 of V, but there’s also V7 of ii, V7 of vi, and so on. And like this one, they always have at least one chromatic note, maybe more than one. Now, I should mention that applied dominants go by several different names. Some people call them “Secondary dominants”; other people just call them “applied chords.”
3:19
(I do that a lot.) But those terms all mean the exactly same thing. And in this video, we’re gonna focus on applied dominants that resolve to V. But before we hear more music, I wanna nail down three important things about this chord with C# in the bass, this V6/5 of V. First, we can actualy understand it in two totally different ways. On the one hand, we can think of it as a chord that’s been “borrowed” from the key of D major. When we’re actually in D major, A dominant seventh is the dominant.
3:52
But we can also think of it as a chord we do normally find in G major, just tweaked a bit. Without the sharp, this is just a ii6/5 chord, something we see all the time. So we can think of this chord as a ii6/5 whose bass has been “pulled up” chromatically from C to C#. But whichever way you think about it, you also need to understand how it resolves. And in this sense, V6/5 of V is just like all applied chords: the voices resolve exactly as they would if we found this chord in its home key.
4:29
In other words, this first-inversion A dominant seventh chord is going to resolve just like it would if it were acting as V6/5 in D major. So how do V6/5 chords normally resolve? We know that in a regular V6/5 chord, the chordal third—the leading tone of the key—is in the bass, and wants to resolve upward by half step. Well, that’s gonna happen here too: the chordal third, C#, will go up to D. And that note has a special name: we call it the “local leading tone,” because if D major were tonic,
5:03
it would be the actual leading tone. Of course, it’s not. We’re in G, which makes this note raised scale degree ^4, which resolves up to ^5. But it’s still a really important note: raised scale degree ^4 is the calling card of applied chords to V. It’s in all of them, so we’re gonna see it a lot today—and it’s always easy to spot, because its gonna be an altered note. There’s always an accidental. As for the other notes: we’d expect the other tendency tone, the yellow chordal seventh,
5:32
to resolve down by step—which it does. We’d expect the root of the chord to be a common tone in an upper voice, which it is. And we’d expect the blue chordal fifth to step down, which it does. So again—it just resolves as if it were a normal V7 in D. And finally, there’s the question of function. Think about it: if the whole purpose of applied chords is to lead strongly into the chord that follows, and if we’ve got an applied chord that leads strongly into the dominant,
6:06
we might wanna ask if it’s got a pre-dominant function. I think it does. In fact, I think of applied chords to V as some of the strongest predominants we have; they’re like regular predominants that have been juiced with these chromatic notes that make them more dissonant—and thus more satisfying—when they resolve. But that does sort of leave us with a kind contradiction. We call this chord an “applied DOMINANT,” it’s spelled like a DOMINANT seventh chord,
6:31
it resolves like a DOMINANT seventh chord…and it in this context, it functions as a…predominant. What can I say? We’re just gonna have to learn to live with it. Now, I will happily admit: in THIS example, the applied chord only gives us a gentle push into the dominant. We can actually leave out the C# altogether, and it doesn’t change things that much. Here—I’ll play it without the C#, and you can hear for yourself.
7:07
But a lot of the time, that applied chord is gonna be more forceful, and more essential to the overall character of the music. Here’s the opening antecedent phrase from Schubert’s Bb-major impromptu. He gives us a bar of tonic, a bar of dominant, then a half-bar of tonic, four beats of predominant—where we find raised scale degree ^4 in the bass again—and then a half-cadential dominant. Have a listen, and try singing along with the bass line. So, I’ve given you the Roman numerals here.
7:48
But I want to make sure you really understand why the chord on the last downbeat is labeled the way it is. So to start: we’re in the key of Bb. V of Bb is F. And then we need to ask “what chord is V7 in the key of F?” And the answer is C dominant seventh: C, E natural, G, and Bb. And that E natural needs an accidental in Bb major: it’s raised scale degree ^4, the local “leading tone” that resolves to scale degree ^5. Now, I keep using this term: “local leading tone.”
8:24
But I don’t want you to take it too literally. Because the sound of raised ^4 going to ^5 is really different from ^7 going into ^1. Listen again to Schubert’s last two bars, and really home in on that bassline as it approaches ^5 from below. Now, for comparison, let’s take that last bar and put it in a phrase that’s actually in the key of F major. So now E is the actual leading tone, resolving to tonic. Notice how conclusive that motion feels now.
9:06
And now, when we go back to Schubert’s version, I hope you can hear how that chromatic motion into the half cadence gives the E and the F a totally different character. So: at the risk of overkill, here is one last example of V6/5 of V, just to really get that sound in our ears. This is from Beethoven’s Op. 3 String Trio, and it’s got the strongest applied chord so far. The phrase itself is a slow sentence, and it uses that opening formula we’ve seen
9:44
about a hundred times: the basic idea goes from I to V, and the repetition goes from V back to I. And in the second half, the bass rises chromatically from scale degree ^3 to scale degree ^5. So, after the I6 chord in bar 5, we see (yet again!) a regular diatonic ii6/5 (with Db in the bass) moving to V6/5 of V (which has D natural—raised scale degree ^4—in the bass). And of course that D-natural wants to resolve upward to the root of the dominant.
10:30
When you hear the passage, notice how the applied chord really intensifies the predominant function, giving us a powerful push into the dominant. So, until now we’ve only seen one applied dominant: V6/5 of V. But that’s not the only applied chord to V. It’s just a really common one. Let’s get to know the whole family now. The thing you need to know is that any chord with a dominant function in its home key can be an applied chord in some other key.
11:30
That means we’re always dealing with Roman numerals V and vii—in this video, that means V of V and vii of V. But we can have both triads and seventh chords, in all kinds of inversions. So let’s start with the applied chords in the V of V family. We’ve already seen one of these: V7 of V. And to make this less abstract, let’s think about these in situations when C is the tonic. When C is the tonic, G is V, so we need the dominant of G, which is a D dominant seventh.
12:08
Here’s what V7 of V looks like in C major, and here it is in C minor. (Hint: they’re the same. This is true of all applied chords to V: they’re the same in major and minor) And I’ve shown root position here, but the truth is that V7 of V can be used in any of its inversions. But V of V isn’t always a seventh chord. Sometimes it’s just a triad—in other words “V of V.” If C is tonic, that would be just a D-major triad. And that one, too, can appear in any inversion.
12:39
But it’s less common, because it’s less dissonant, I think. That push to the dominant is usually better with a bit of crunch. And speaking of crunch—one of the most dissonant applied chords is viio7 of V. If we’re in C, this is gonna be an F# fully diminished seventh chord—one whose root is raised scale degree ^4. And it’s very common in both C major and C minor, in all of its inversions except 4/2-position. Then there’s the triadic version of that chord—viio of V—which in C would be F#
13:16
diminished. That one appears mainly in first inversion. And finally, there’s vii half diminished 7 of V. This one’s also super common, but only in major. We never see it in minor keys. And it’s almost never inverted. That #^4 really wants to be in the bass. So that’s all of the applied chords to V. And if you paid close attention—if you really took the time to understand this—you won’t have any trouble in later videos, when we deal with other applied chords: V7 of IV, viio7 of vi, and so on.
14:00
With some practice you’ll be able to hear them, spell them, analyze them. Speaking of analysis, though: there’s a mistake that students make all the time, and I want to put it on your radar. The mistake is when someone labels an applied dominant based on the chord’s root, rather than its function. From the chart here, it’s easy to see that if we’re in C major, applied chords to V are gonna have one of two roots: D or F#.
14:25
And, understandably, students will see these chords sometimes and then just slap on a Roman numeral based on that root. So they’d label the first group as “major II” chords, and the others as “#iv diminished” chords. I get this, but it’s wrong. Super wrong. Wrong like…neck beards. Wrong like socks with sandals. But they’re not wrong because the Roman numerals, per se, are wrong. They’re wrong because they don’t tell us what the chords are actually doing.
14:52
Calling something “V6/5 of V” doesn’t just tell us what notes are in the chord, it tells where chord wants to go, what it wants to do. And that’s what matters. Now, two more quick things before we hear some music. First: applied chords to V aren’t always predominants. They have two other main uses, which I’m not gonna get to here. One is simply to embellish a V chord that’s already in place. The other is to help us modulate to the key of the dominant. We’ll see both of them in later videos.
15:20
Speaking of modulation: I also want to clarify that when you see an applied dominant—to V or any other chord—it does not mean the music has modulated or changed keys in any way. We might be about to change keys, but not necessarily. Beginners get confused about this. Got it? Good. Let’s hear some more music. Here are five “pro tips” about applied chords to V. The first one is: “applied chords to V can also resolve to a cadential six-four.” Remember the cadential six-four, from Video 24?
15:50
If not, go back and watch. Applied chords to V resolve to them all the time. Here is a parallel period from one of Schubert’s A-minor piano sonatas. (The actual key here is E major.) I want you listen to it and just find the applied chord to V. So did you find it? And how would one find it, come to think of it? Well, here’s a hint: we know that every applied chord to V is gonna include raised scale degree ^4. And if we’re in E major, raised scale degree ^4 is gonna be A#. So where’s A#?
16:39
There it is, right in the bass where Schubert knows we’ll hear it. So what are the harmonies in that first phrase? The bass starts by leaping up in thirds: tonic, I6, then V7. That then resolves deceptively upward to vi, and then leaps down to scale degree ^4, under a ii6 chord. Then we see that rising ^4…sharp ^4…^5 bass. But notice two things. First: this applied chord isn’t V6/5 of V. It’s viiø7 of V. A# is now both the bass and the root.
17:20
And when that chord resolves, it doesn’t go directly to V. Instead, it goes to a cadential six-four. This is really common, probably because it allows the composer to have scale degree ^3—here that’s G#—as a common tone in both chords. Have another listen. Moving on to pro tip number 2: you should also know that the applied chord can be the only predominant in the phrase. Until now, all of our examples have had two predominants: a diatonic one and then the chromatic applied chord.
18:12
Sometimes there is no diatonic predominant. Here’s a really clear example, from Mozart’s Adagio in B minor. Here, the applied chord to V is the first “real” chord of the piece. He starts with just a hint of tonic, which is arpeggiated in the melody with no bass. Then we get a four-voiced chord with, you guessed it, sharp ^4 in the bass. It’s an applied chord to V, but one we haven’t seen yet: viio7 of V, with each hand playing a tritone.
18:45
And, as with the last example, it resolves into a cadential six-four, which itself resolves into V. OK—pro tip number 3: raised scale degree ^4 isn’t always in the bass. It has been so far, but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s a phrase we have looked at in several videos, but we’ve never analyzed all the chords. I’ll just give them to you here, but notice that the bass line is completely diatonic. It doesn’t have that raised scale degree ^4 that lets us spot the applied chord so easily.
19:24
Instead, we see that the second to last harmony is a new applied chord: viio6 of V. We’re in F major, and this one has scale degree ^6 in the bass, which approaches the dominant from above rather than below. Raised scale degree ^4, the local leading tone B-natural, is in the tenor voice now. Have a listen. Two pro tips left. Number four: in minor keys, applied chords to V always have two accidentals. You still need to raise scale degree ^4, just like major.
20:18
But you’ll also need to raise scale degree ^6. Here is a phrase from Mozart’s Requiem that uses a by-the-book stepwise bass. We start on tonic, dip down to scale degree ^7, and then rise up the scale to ^5, passing through sharp ^4 on the way. So you can make an educated guess about the functions. As usual, we alternate tonic and dominant functions until we get to SD^3 in the bass. And then scale degree ^4 rises chromatically to ^5 with a diatonic predominant, an applied
20:57
chord, and then finally V at the half cadence. But look at the applied chord: it’s viio7 of V, or G# diminished seventh. To spell that chord right, we need to raise the diatonic B-flat to B natural. (Or we’d get that weird chord.) What I love about this progression is that three of the four voices in the diatonic predominant rise by semitone to make the applied chord. We start on this…then all of the voices except the tenor D upshift, making for a really
21:32
intense push into V. Here’s how the whole passage sounds. Here’s something else I like: when that raised scale degree ^6 is in the melody, it can add a kind of harmonic brightness we don’t normally get in minor. Here is the main theme of Chopin’s first Ballade. It uses two parallel phrases, and the first one starts with a dominant pickup, then tonic, and ends on a predominant; the second phrase starts the same way, but now the predominant
22:26
is an applied chord: root position V7 of V, which takes us to a half cadence. What I love here is the contrast between the two predominants—both of which have A as their root. When you listen, compare the gloomy half-diminished seventh chord in the first phrase with the very bright sounding V7 of V, which puts that raised ^6, E natural, in the melody. OK—Last pro tip, and this one also involves accidentals.
23:15
In major, viio7 of V requires two accidentals: raised scale degree ^4, which we should expect by now, but also lowered scale degree ^3. Here’s a passage from Mozart’s “Coronation” concerto. We’re in D major, leading up to a cadence, and we’ve got a very conventional bass line. We start on tonic, and then the bass drops by thirds, through vi, as a bridging chord, to ii6/5, and then rises chromatically, through viio7 of V, into a cadential six-four, which goes on to V7 and then finally tonic.
23:55
This is a very common progression, probably because it lets the composer add a second rising chromatic voice. Notice that as the bass goes ^4…#^4…^5, the top voice follows in parallel sixths: E–F–F#, or scale degrees ^2, lowered ^3, and regular ^3. The whole passage sounds like this. So that’s everything you need to know. If you’re just looking for the basics, you can bail right now. But I’ve got two more topics for folks who like the fine print. So if that’s you, keep watching!
24:44
The first point has to do with situations where an applied chord to V resolves to V7. We haven’t seen that yet, because it’s not super common. But it does happen, and there’s a little wrinkle in the voice leading I want you to know about. This is the main theme from Mozart’s D-minor keyboard fantasy. It’s a slow sentence, and it opens with a formula we know well. The basic idea moves from tonic to dominant, and the response moves from dominant back to tonic.
25:21
Then, in the second half, the harmonic rhythm speeds up twice. In bars 5 and 6, we get two more tonic-to-dominant motions: now each of them fits in a single bar. And then at the end, Mozart speeds things up to one chord per beat. This is where we find our applied chords. There are actually two of them, and each of them is the only predominant in a quick functional cycle. So, I wanna look more closely at the progression in the box here, the one with the applied chords.
26:06
And here is a reduction that smooths out Mozart’s jagged rhythms. The second applied chord here leads right into the half-cadential dominant; it’s viio7 of V. But the first one appears on the downbeat of the bar. And this is the one that resolves to V7, rather than just to V. When this happens, the voice leading gets a bit weird. So let’s look closely at that chord on the downbeat. We’re in D minor, and this is an incomplete E dominant seventh chord.
26:40
It’s V7 of the dominant, A. And notice that raised scale degree ^4, G#, is in the melody. This is the note we call the local leading tone, and it wants to go. But that’s not what it does. In order to have a V7 chord on that next beat, Mozart needs somebody to be on a G-natural. So he takes that local leading tone not up, but down by half step. This may seem weird, but it pretty much always happens when one dominant seventh resolves directly into another.
27:13
(Some people call this the “frustrated” leading tone.) And notice as well that Mozart resolves that V7 into a major tonic triad, not a minor one. He does this so that his melody can hit every chromatic note between the high A-natural and the E at the end of the phrase: A, G#, G, F#, then finally F, and E. Mozart loves these kinds of winding chromatic lines when he writes in minor keys. The whole passage sounds like this. Alright—one last thing.
28:29
I mentioned earlier that applied chords to V can help us modulate to the key of V—but only sometimes. Usually, we’re not changing keys at all. Well, there’s actually a gray area between these two poles. Sometimes, we’re not really sure whether we’ve modulated or not. This tends to happen when a short phrase ends on V, preceded by a root-position V7 of V. Here’s the main theme from the last movement of Mozart’s last piano sonata. It’s in D major.
28:59
And when you hear it, I want you to ask yourself two questions. First: is that last note in the melody—the A natural—scale degree ^5 (in D) or scale degree ^1 (in A)? Second: ask yourself whether the music that comes next feels like it should be in D major or A major. So now that you’ve heard it, how would you analyze that last system? Is it just all in D major, with a half cadence at the end? Or did you hear it this way, moving into A major, and ending with a PAC?
29:40
If you’re still unsure, listen again and ask yourself whether those last four notes of the melody are ^4–^3–^2–^1 in A major or ^1–^7–^6–^5 in D. The truth is that it could really be either. In the actual piece, Mozart restarts the theme in the original key of D. But he could just as easily have continued in A, without any weirdness at all. And the point is that until we know what comes next, we can really hear it either way.
30:39
Of course, it can be fun to ask how we could change a passage like this, to tip it in one direction or the other. Here is a tweaked version of the last four bars that commits much more strongly to modulating; our first applied chord appears earlier now, and we even get a full blown viio7 of V in the new key. Now there’s no debate: that phrase definitely ends in the key of A major. But let’s not get into the weeds with this whole modulation business.
31:13
This lesson was only supposed to be about applied chords as predominants. So I’ll say goodbye for now, and I’ll see you again soon, with a much shorter video about a single chord. Imagine that!
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