A cadential classification question
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,943
    Just because I've come upon in few times recently, and it's certainly in the quiver of compositional "surprises" that it would be something that ought to have a classification but to the best of my knowledge from my couple of years in music theory and composition does not:

    Is there a term or common handle for the practice of a final cadence of an ultimate or penultimate line that instead of ending in the tonic major winds up in the mediant major? So, in a work that is largely in C major, the last line or next to last line ends up in E major? (Ravel's Bolero is the classic example of the penultimate line version of this, if memory serves.) But it's also a little parlor trick I've heard organist pull when the melody of a hymn ends on the mediant. It's designed to provide a surprising "bright" finish.
  • CGM
    Posts: 683
    I'm not sure if there's a specifically cadential term for this, but in contemporary composition, root motion by thirds - particularly major thirds, and particularly if both chords share the same color (e.g. major or minor) - is often referred to as a "chromatic mediant relationship." Moving from C major to E major would qualify.

    Otherwise, you probably know that if you end on vi (or VI) instead of on I, having traversed the preceding chords of the cadence in a normal manner, this non-tonic ending is referred to as a "deceptive cadence." Since III and VI are related (mediant and submediant), it stands to reason that cadencing on III is some sort of variant of the standard deceptive cadence.
  • OrganistRob320OrganistRob320
    Posts: 157
    Cadential classifications relate to the final chords of a piece, not necessarily the home key of a given work. If your phrase concludes with a B major to E major it will still be an authentic cadence.
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,943
    It's barely notionally authentic, but not to the ear in the sense that it's very sudden - there's a sense of arrival to a very different place, but it also has a sense of finality that the classic submediant deceptive cadence doesn't have and in fact is designed not to have. The funny thing when it's used in a a penultimate line (like Bolero) that ends up heading back to the major tonic is that reversion has a certain deceptive quality to it - ok, clearly heading to a new place, oh, well, I guess not.

    How about the Teasing Cadence?
  • dhalkjdhalkj
    Posts: 61
    Phrygian Cadence is what it's called. Often preceded by II6. There's one in some harmonizations of O Canada. The cadence is on III decorated with a Tierce de Picardie. Conditor alme siderum, Passion Chorale, Pange Lingua: There are lots of well known hymns in Phrygian mode (III or IV).
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,943
    Really? I didn't think it was Phrygian if you're starting from major and ending up in major, again like C major but suddenly ending up in E major. My example is about major to major.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    Liam, could you supply some examples other than Bolero? In particular, are there examples from hymn settings that have this feature? I'm not sure that Phrygian cadence is what you're talking about.
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,943
    Well, it's been a while since I've seen it in a score; but it is something I've encountered when, in a final verse where everyone's singing in unison and the cadence top-note of the last or penultimate line is the mediant, the organist/pianist in alternative harmonisation ends that cadence in the mediant major (sometimes with a subtle smile or wink of the "see what I just pulled out of the hat?" kind). It was something I heard earlier this month, and then I heard Bolero on the radio and realized, oh, yeah, that's the same effect, and I checked the Bolero score, and sure enough, yep. It's just one of those things that I've encountered enough over the years to register in my brainpan to noodle over, but never got around to to doing. I am not a keyboardist, so it's not something I can readily replicate, but I offer it to you as a little puzzle. Is it a practice borrowed from jazz musicians?
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    Here's a famous example that gets from G-flat major to B-flat major via a Neapolitan sixth, abridged from the original full brass (4331) to brass quintet.
    Neapolitan Sixth.pdf
    15K
    Neapolitan Sixth.mp3
    579K
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    The example that comes easily to mind around now is O Haupt, which can start on the mediant and end on the dominant of a minor.
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    Following the logic that ending on vi is a deceptive cadence, and ending on V (of I) is a half cadence, mightn't ending on III (V of vi) be called a "half-deceptive" cadence?
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,943
    Funny, that thought (half-deceptive) occurred to me last evening.
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