Ever since that fateful day (a story with an amazing coincidence) thirteen years ago when I discovered "Augmented Sixth Day," I've found that many years I forget to celebrate either until the day of or even long after the day has passed. (This is where a well-stocked Hallmark section could really help keep a guy on track.) In fact, I'm alarmed to see that I've only made holiday-specific posts three times before on this august day, plus another one a couple of months late in 2021. Here's where we've been so far.
- Happy Augmented Sixth Day - 8/6/2012
- Happy Augmented Sixth Day! (2016 ed.) - 8/6/2016
- Augmented Reality - 10/16/2021
- An Aug 6 for Aug 6 in an August Sextet - 8/6/2022
I suppose this is a time of year when I'm least likely to look at a calendar closely since it's generally vacation time, but a couple of days ago I was reminded the big day was coming. (Sadly, this reminder came about due to a reading an article about the upcoming anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, which happened on an August 6.) So, on August 4th, I decided to create something special for this year.
I decided it might be fun to create a piece which intentionally overuses - er, um, fully implements - the augmented sixth chord as a structural device. After a few days of tinkering and finally recording, I have something I kind of like. It's built on a recurring, ever-modulating pattern with each two-bar group (or every bar in mm. 9-13) featuring an augmented sixth chord, with a few extras thrown in at the beginning and end. As it turned out, although augmented sixth chords make great pivot points for modulation, in this case most of the augmented sixth chords (these are almost all German Sixths) are simply intensifying the approach to a cadential 6/4 chord. However, each cadence is diverted by a new Dominant Seventh in the next key around the Circle of Fifths, so the music follows a basic circle progression as it chromatically winds its way around.*
I realize a lot of this might sound completely mystifying. Perhaps the most important thing to remember about Augmented Sixth chords is that the two outer pitches which form an augmented sixth usually resolve outwardly by half-step to an octave. (It's also important that at least one of the pitches is not in the key, so that also adds chromatic intensity.) Half-step resolutions tend to be powerful forces harmonically. This image shows the first line of music with the Augmented Sixths and their resolutions indicated:
As used in my little waltz, each Augmented Sixth Chord (such an unwieldy name!) is really just a chromatic alteration of a very common minor iv chord (a triad built on the fourth note of the minor scale). It doesn't really need to be there for the standard progression of iv6 to i64 to V, but the progression is made more intense by raising the 4th scale degree (F to F-sharp, for example). This kind of thing was used all the time by Classical and Romantic Era composers. Here's one of my little demos I created in a Haydn quartet. (In this case, because it's in a major key, the switch to German Sixth also requires a flattening of the 6th scale degree, so you get chromatic intensification in two directions.)
I began composing by simply working out these little repetitions of a modulating phrase, and then I changed up a few things to make it slightly more interesting (?). In addition to demonstrating two classic harmony concepts (augmented sixths and circle progressions), the little waltz also features regular hemiolas, and is by nature very chromatic and, thus, both obsessive and anxious. I couldn't decide whether it should be fast or slow, so you get three different recordings. Happy Augmented Sixth Day!
* Theory nerds will know that German Sixths and Dominant Sevenths are enharmonically the same - which is to say they use the same sounding pitches, but are spelled differently. The first musical example in this post shows how what sounds like a standard Dominant Seventh can turn out to function as a modulating Augmented Sixth chord, taking us from C Major to the distant key of E Major. My waltz does something kind of opposite. The Augmented Sixth chord simply intensifies a standard cadence, but a chromatic alteration introduces a Dominant Seventh chord in the next key around the Circle of Fifths, and off we go.
No comments:
Post a Comment