Chapter 17 Blog, Harmonies of the 19th Century, Part 1

For the first blog on the subject of tonality and compositional style, I would like to focus on harmonic trends taking place during the first half of the 19th century. It is important to keep in mind that most of the techniques being employed by composers were in use by Beethoven and many of his predecessors. Indeed, if this shows us anything it is that the 19th century existed largely in the shadow of the great master. That being said, many of the Romantics did carry these more experimental harmonies to the very edge of what we consider to be “tonal” music, albeit at this early period we don’t see anything too terribly drastic (by our modern standards). I will begin with two important harmonies, the “Borrowed Chord” and the “Seven Diminished Seven.” (Britannica Online)

The Borrowed Chord: A borrowed chord is a triad that exists in a parallel key, for instance, if a piece begins in A major, the Romantic composer would have access to all chords from the key of A minor as well, thereby “borrowing it” from the parallel minor. This was widely in use during the time of Mozart and even as far back as the songs of the Camerata, but it was usually restricted to the minor IV chord. Now in the 19th century there is access to all triads from a parallel key. (Ottman pp. 199-201)


This is kind of a quirky video but it shows on the board what I am talking about here. The original URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl

The Seven Diminished Seven Chord: It goes without saying that the seven-diminished-seven chord existed long before the Romantic period, however; the way it was treated during the 19th century makes it something of a special case. We have to understand that there are essentially on three seven-diminished-seven chords that exist in western equal-temperament and yet the uses of these as a transpositional tool are almost limitless. Every fully diminished chord is capable of at least four possible resolutions making a transition to a very foreign key possible in one move (ex. In the key of C major modulating to G-flat major we could write a chord progression that goes: C major, D-diminished-seven in its second inversion ending on G-flat major). When we add the potential to land on minor keys, the modulation possibilities are almost endless. If you seek more information on this subject, I highly recommend viewing Leonard Bernstein’s “Unanswered Question – Lectures at Harvard.”



This is a short progression based on the example in the paragraph, notice how I moved through several different tonal centers by using the F-diminished and F-sharp-diminished chords.



Works Cited:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255575/harmony/64530/Romantic-changes-in-classical-harmony Retrieved September 2 2009. Provided historical background for 19th century harmony.

Ottman, Robert W. Advanced Harmony, Theory and Practice. Prentice Hall, New Jersey: 1992

Bernstein, Leonard. The Unawnsered Question – Six Lectures at Harvard. Kulture Video