Chromatic Chords

We are almost finished learning about everything that will typically pop up in a Classical-period piece.
Our final topic is chromatic chords - chords that use notes outside the key. They require extra accidentals
to make, and can thus confuse students into thinking that a piece has moved into a new key.

Not modulations

Modulations usually cadence in a new key or involves multple harmonies that only make sense in a new
key. Perceptually, they will change the sense of “do” to a new note.

- chromatic chords, on the other hand, are momentary detours within an otherwise normal progression.
These
They usually last for one chord only.

-
Secondary dominants, or “borrowed chords.”
The- most common chromatic chords you will encounter are secondary dominants, or, as one student of
mine called them, “borrowed chords.” A secondary dominants seems to serve as a temporary V, V&, viio,
or viio& chord that briefly points to some chord other than I. Here’s an example written in C major:

secondary
dominant

C:

If you saw chords 2 and 3 out of context, you’d probably think it was a Le going to a k in d minor.
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We’ve “borrowed” the dominant seventh from another key and slipped it into the progression.
We’ll call it “Le of ii.” Usually, the secondary dominant will continue to its target (in this case,
ii).

There are two ways to label secondary dominants:

slash notation arrow

Le Le
kk

You can have secondary V’s, V&’s, viio’s or viio&’s.

So, whenever you find a secondary chord and must identify it, ask “what is it V (or viio) of?”
If it is a secondary V or V&, count down a perfect fifth from its root - that’s its target note. If
it’s a viio or viio&, count a half step up from its root.

target note is ii, target note is ii,

C: C:
therefore therefore
L& lkko&
kk kk

Of course, in context it usually helps to just see what the chord leads to. “V& of vi” is usually
going to go to vi, et cetera. (The main exception is when secondary V&’s form a chain, which
I’ll show in a little bit.)
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How Secondary Doms Work in the Flowchart

The dominant to tonic progression (say, V-I or viio-I) is the most powerful harmonic motion in classical
music. It has the ability to pull the ear along and “point to” a new target note.

Often people say that the target note is being “tonicized”, or made into a temporary tonic. I want to
avoid this sense of it, because I don’t think we should confuse secondary dominants with modulation.
As far as I’m concerned, if we hear a new “do”, we’ve modulated. Let’s say that “tonicization” is a
weaker, less stable way to briefly emphasize a chord that is not I.

Substitutions

The simplest way to use secondary dominants is as a substitution for a normal chord in the flowchart.
In our first example progression, for example, the Le/ii stood in for a vi.

Vanilla Version Substitute Le for lk

Le

Instead of an A minor triad, we use an A dominant seventh. Thus, we could imagine we’ve put the
secondary dominant in the flowchart where vi would normally be.

L& KL lkko
kk I
kk V&

Chromatic substitutions for the subdominants (ii and IV) are also common.
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Insertions

Secondary dominants also can be inserted into progressions to make a little extra interest. The
progression would work without them, but their presence adds some cool chromatic motion.

V& of V inserted between ii and V

C:

KL lkko
I
kk^ V&
L&
L

“Wrenching” the Progression

Because these chords are so good at pointing in new directions, there’s often a sense that they
are diverting the progression away from where it would normally go.

C: K KL L lkko& lk KL L K

Here we arrive at V rather quickly, but a lkko of vi pulls us into deeper waters and keeps the
progression going.
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Perhaps my favorite secondary dominant is the V& of IV, which is really a modified I chord. It
often has a dramatic wrenching effect, as one moment we are safe at home on the I chord and
the next we are pushing away from it.

C: K Le KL L K

Secondary Dominants in a Chain

Secondary V&’s in a chain often feature one final twist in the laws of resolving seventh chords.
Both the third of the chord and the seventh sink down by half step in a series of parallel tritones.

sinking tritone

L& L&
C: K kk L L& K
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The “Neapolitan Six” Chord

The “Neapolitan Six” is really quite simple. It’s a II chord that is built on a lowered (or flattened)
scale-degree ^2 instead of a normal ^2. It is usually in first inversion (which is why people call it a
“six,” after its figured-bass symbol) and it’s always major instead of minor or diminished. It
functions just like normal ii, as a pre-dominant that will continue to a dominant or a cadential w.

You can mark it ßKK^, or, as I was taught, N^.

Here’s an example, written in C major, where the N^ goes to V.

Here’s a progression from N^ to a cadential w,

in C minor. (I think this sounds terrible in
major but good in minor.)

C:

c:
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Augmented Sixth Chord

The augmented sixth is an interval that’s the same size as a minor seventh. (Think of it as a major
sixth that’s been “stretched” an extra half-step.) Augmented sixth chords are a special family of
harmonies that lead chromatically to the dominant. The notes in the augmented sixth interval are
a half-step above and below the dominant scale-degree.

in C:

^5 G
ƒ^4 Fƒ

ß^6 Aß
^5 G

The augmented sixth chord is not just these two notes, however. There’s always one or two more
pitches in the chord, and different variations are given somewhat silly geographical names.

“Italian” Augmented Sixth in C:

ƒ^4 Fƒ
All augmented sixth chords include a scale-
degree 1^ . The basic version (with nothing ^ 1 C
else) is called an “Italian” augmented sixth.
ß^6 Aß

“German” Augmented Sixth in C: in C:

Here you include a 1^ and a ß^3 (or 3^ from a ƒ^4 Fƒ ƒ^4 Fƒ
minor scale.) That ß^3 can also be spelled ß^3 ƒ^2
Eß Dƒ
as a ƒ^2. German sixths are cool because OR
they mimic the same shape as a dominant ^1 C ^1 C
seventh chord. They don’t resolve like a ß^6 Aß ß^6 Aß
dominant seventh, though!

Ger+^ in C V& in Aß
G
Fƒ Gß 7th
Eß Eß
l.t.
C C
Aß Aß
G
ba
ss

Eß
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“French” Augmented Sixth

in C:
Here you include a 1^ and a 2^ . The French
sixth thus makes a very unusual shape and ƒ^4 Fƒ
has a very exotic sound. It contains both
an aug 6th between the outside notes (which ^2 D
is really like a minor 7th) and a whole tone ^1 C
between the inside notes. This shape
doesn’t normally appear in the major or ß^6 Aß
minor scale at all - it actually has more in
common with the atonal “whole tone scale.”

Fr.+^ whole-tone scale

Augmented sixth chords usually appear with the ß^6 in the bass. Nobody really considers that the
“root” of the chord, though. (Usually, roots are stable, they are not “tendency tones.”)

They are usually labeled It.+^, Ger.+^, and Fr. +^.

The augmented sixth chords often appear in conjunction with other cool chromatic harmonies to
make smooth contrapuntal lines. Here’s an example in c minor, which also includes a secondary
dominant (the V& of iv) as well as “mode mixture” (using a major IV instead of the usual iv.)

c:

Ger+^ Kw
Lt
kl
KL^ lkko
i
kko V&
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Note the cool contrary motion this creates in the outer voices.

Mode Mixture

The majorness or minorness of a scale can be referred to as it’s “mode.” (Mode can also refer to more
exotic scales such as phrygian or mixolydian.)

“Mode mixture” is simply the practice of mixing in diatonic triads from a different mode (drawing
on, say, the chords of C minor when one is in C major.) Observe these progressions in C major and
find the mode mixtures.