augmented sixth chord *help please*

[electrik noize]

I've been reading a bit about something called the augmented sixth chord, and its varieties (Italian, German etc).

But what I'm confused about is where it actually it occurs. If one took the Amin scale the chord would appear (I think) as F A D# starting on the sixth degree, F. In this case the "augmentation is between the F and D#

Does it only happen here or could you make this chord starting on say the fourth scale degree? What about the major scale? Thanks in advance for any help

[jancivil]

it works like this:

it's a 'subdominant' function, built on the 'iv' chord; in FIRST INVERSION
(IE: begin with the minor subdominant, third in the bass voice)

in A: the D minor chord, f in the bass voice

Note that we have a SIXTH interval, f to d

we raise the d to <D#>. Hence the 'augmented sixth' name for this move.

so now we've f, a, and d#; this is the basic or ITALIAN form; note that it sounds like a dominant seventh (F7) [it functions basically like a flat-five substitution (for V) does in jazz, the basic resolution here would be to E7, 'V7' of our key, A or A minor; like bVI7 (in lieu of ii) to V7].

if we were to fill out the sort of dominant 7th, four-note voicing, we of course add the 'c' here;

f - a - c - d#; this is the GERMAN form

now, to get French (more coloristic) with it, we flat the 'fifth' of this resultant harmony, we'll call this note b natural:

f - a - b - d#.

resolution is very simple, just keep to minimal motion.


a really cool treatment of this augmented sixth deal is found in Richard Wagner, from Tristan und Isolde, a famous lick called the 'Love-Death' resolution... look it up.

[electrik noize]

dude wow. thats the best simplest easy-to-read description I have read about these chords. Thanks!!!

[jancivil]

you are welcome.

I had a couple of very good teachers, I believe one must pay it forward.

[JumpingJackFlash]

From my Introduction to Chromatic Harmony:

Augmented Sixths
Occurring on flattened sixth and flattened second of the scale in either major or minor key. On the sixth is more common. They all have an augmented sixth above the bass.

Augmented sixths in a minor key have the same exact notes as the major key. I.e, treat any minor key as the tonic major and work the augmented sixth out from that.

There are three forms:

Italian
(IVb). Bass, major 3rd, augmented 6th. (eg in C: Db, F, B or Ab, C, F#). Only the third may be doubled.

French
(II7c). Bass, major 3rd, augmented 4th and augmented 6th. (eg in C: Db, F, G, B or Ab, C, D, F#).

German
(IV7b). Bass, major 3rd, perfect 5th, and augmented sixth. (eg in C: Db, F, Ab, B or Ab, C, (D# or Eb), F#). (When spelt with an Eb, usually used in the minor mode).

Augmented sixths on the flattened sixth of the scale resolve to Ic or V (or V7). German 6ths resolving to V may lead to inevitable parallel 5ths which are permissible in this context (but better to resolve to Ic instead).

The upper and lower notes should resolve outwards to the octave (dominant note). The other notes all resolve by step or by remaining stationary (except Italian 6th to Ic, when one of the 3rds rises up a 3rd).

In a major key, the chord preceding the augmented sixth should have a bass of the tonic or unaltered sixth of the scale. (eg, I, IVb, VI) and approach the augmented sixth note from the first, third, fourth or fifth degrees of the scale.

In a minor key, the bass requirement is the same, but the sixth can only be approached from first, fourth, fifth or natural sixth degrees of the minor scale.

Augmented sixths on the second scale degree are less useful and should resolve to V7c, the bass rising a chromatic semitone. Beware, augmented sixths can sound very 'greasy'.

Occasionally, the German sixth may appear in inversion (like IV7a) with the sharpened fourth in the bass, resolving up a semitone to Ic for example.

[llatham]

I've been reading a bit about something called the augmented sixth chord, and its varieties (Italian, German etc).

But what I'm confused about is where it actually it occurs. If one took the Amin scale the chord would appear (I think) as F A D# starting on the sixth degree, F. In this case the "augmentation is between the F and D#

Does it only happen here or could you make this chord starting on say the fourth scale degree? What about the major scale? Thanks in advance for any help

As others have stated, there are generally three recognized types. In my background we no longer treat them as inversions, but as a "sixth" chord. Sixth chords don't have traditional "roots" but are built on a bass note. In traditional common practice period tonality (CPP) Augmented Sixth chords appear ONLY on b6. In C minor, the three types would be:
Italian Ab C C F#
French Ab C D F#
German Ab C Eb F#
(note, the "5th" of the chord gets higher the higher you go northward in Europe! - in the Italian, the "third" is doubled in four parts)

There's also one some people call "Swiss" which is a German with it's "5th" spelled enharmonically:
Ab C D# F#
This is so the D# can resolve upwards to a third of the Major Tonic-Six-Four chord.

As others have stated, all +6 types resolve to V(7) or to I6/4-V(7). The German does present the issue of parallel 5ths so, it typically resolves to I6/4 first or uses some other NCT motion to avoid the parallels (though in some cases, composers simply use the parallels).

We do not usually see the +6 family on scale degrees other than b6 (by the way, that means "6" in minor and "lowered 6 in major, so F in am or AM). By the Romantic period, and towards the 20th century, we do start to see "inverted" forms where the interval that forms the +6 is spelled as a o3 (so #4 is in the bass). Additionally, we do start to see some on other scale degrees, most especially I (so Db F Ab B in C) in the late Romantic. This is similar to, but not really the same animal as a Tritone Sub in jazz (in jazz the governing principle is the resolution of the tritone, in CPP music, it's the expansion of the +6 interval).

So yes, an +6 chord can appear in Major or minor, and typically on scale degree b6 (again, b6 in Major, 6 in minor, so F in both AM and am). Traditionally, they are more common in minor keys but again, towards the Romantic period you start to see less distinction.

And yes, they can occur on other scale degrees, though being built on b2 (so resolving to I/i) us by far the next most common.

Theorists are in disagreement as to what to name these alternate ones - they often use secondary notation - so Ab-C-Eb-F# is Ger+6 in C, and Db-F-Ab-B is Ger+6/I (German Augmented Sixth of One). Others simply name the form and put it in Brackets [Ger+6]. There are also "+6the without a country" that are none of the standard types, and theorists often just put [+6] as the identifier (there's a famous one in Strauss' Til Eulenspiegel)

+6th sonorities may also resolve so that the +6 interval expands to a note that's not the root of the chord, but the 3rd (commonly) or 5(rarely). For example, F-A-C-D# might resolve to E-G-C-E - so Ger+6 to III6 in am. Again, this is not so common until the end of the 19th century (this is another resolution that's similar to the way IV7 moves to I(7) in Blues, but it's again really a different animal).

HTH,
Steve

[electrik noize]

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the replies. Lots of great info here which has helped to clear up my confusion.

[Km7]

I'd like to add that +6 chords on other degrees can also appear and be analyzed as belonging to secondary tonality, in tonicization (similar to secondary dominants, sub-dominants, etc).
Parallel fifths by semitone are called Mozart fifths and are not considered an error, therefore Ger+6 can resolve directly to V, although I would prefer cadential I6/4 to avoid the parallelism.

[billygard]

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Theorists are in disagreement as to what to name these alternate ones - they often use secondary notation - so Ab-C-Eb-F# is Ger+6 in C, and Db-F-Ab-B is Ger+6/I (German Augmented Sixth of One). Others simply name the form and put it in Brackets [Ger+6]. There are also "+6the without a country" that are none of the standard types, and theorists often just put [+6] as the identifier (there's a famous one in Strauss' Til Eulenspiegel)

If you play all the 7th chords up the Hungarian-minor scale, you will find the French on the 2nd degree, and the German/Italian on the 4th degree. But when you get to the 7th degree, you will hear a new curious +6 chord that has been overlooked. While the German sounds like a dominant 7th, this curious chord sounds like a half-diminished 7th, and somehow got left out of the augmented-6th chord discussions.

Wherever I saw the Tristan chord in print, it is spelled like this augmented 6th chord (FBD#G#). But the many scholars who have been scratching their heads over this Tristan chord and what possible function it has in the music, never seemed to think that it may have been this unnamed Augmented 6th chord. Probably because he didn't simply resolve it fully to ECEA, which would be appropriate in a minor. This +6 is also heard in a few out-of-the-way places like the main theme music in the DVD version of "Stephen Hawking's Universe". It is also used very surreptitiously in a Mozart as a neighboring chord of the German: FACD#->FG#BD#->FACD#. But still the chord has never earned itself a name in the musical world. You can hear it kind of embedded in the chords at the end of the Neptune movement of Planets. So I've so far been calling it the Neptune 6th. In the chord's strict root position, it would technically be the minor-diminished 7th chord [G#BD#F].

Is this by chance the "+6the without a country" you were talking about in Til Eulenspiegel?

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Hungarian-minor scale tetrads:
A C E G#= minor-major 7th
B D#F A = French 6th
C E G#B = augmented-major 7th
D#F A C = German 6th
E G#B D#= major 7th
F A C E = major 7th
G#B D#F = 6th without a country?????

[jancivil]

the Tristan chord is spelled like this ... (FBD#G#). But the many scholars who have been scratching their heads over this Tristan chord and what possible function it has...

The G# is a strong appoggiatura, occurring of the rising chromatic melody. The 'chord' is F B D# A. It moves to E7 with another strong appoggiatura at A# and then that resolves to the fifth of E7.

<"D'Indy (1903, p. 117), who analyses the chord as on IV after Riemann's transcendent principle (as phrased by Serge Gut: "the most classic succession in the world: Tonic, Subdominant, Dominant" (1981, p. 150)) and rejects the idea of an added "lowered seventh", eliminates, "all artificial, dissonant notes, arising solely from the melodic motion of the voices, and therefore foreign to the chord," finding that the Tristan chord is "no more than a subdominant in the key of A, collapsed in upon itself melodically...

This is the simplest in the world,"...

Deliège, independently, sees the G# as an appoggiatura to A, describing that

"in the end only one resolution is acceptable, one that takes the subdominant degree as the root of the chord, which gives us, as far as tonal logic is concerned, the most plausible interpretation ... this interpretation of the chord is confirmed by its subsequent appearances in the Prelude's first period: the IV6 chord remains constant; notes foreign to that chord vary.">

As a sonority, it sounds like a half-diminished, but it functions as a novel kind of secondary dominant built from the subdominant. Functioning more/less the same as the flat five substitution principle in bebop. Which may be influenced by Debussy following Wagner. It is a very recognizable sonority, but unique in its relation to the key. And unique that it sits there as long as it does; Fø in A minor doesn't make a lot of sense so it was surprising to hear it sit there like that. You can find it in Beethoven, Sonata op 31 #3 but it's a 9-8 suspension on vii7 which resolves to the dim 7 pretty quick.

When the G# resolves, it is like a bVI7b5 to V, around eighty years before beboppers found to use such a device. Then it moves to another thing, that to us sounds like a V7#11. But it does these moves with non-harmonic tones using contrapuntal ideation, voice-leading drives the thinking.

[jancivil]

the aug 6 in Til Eulenspiegal is Bb C# E G# moving to an A major, the interval of augmented 6th in contrary motion out to the octave.

[billygard]

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the aug 6 in Til Eulenspiegal is Bb C# E G# moving to an A major, the interval of augmented 6th in contrary motion out to the octave.

Based on the chord spelling you provided, this is the chord I was looking for , since the augmented 2nd is on the lower 2 notes, causing a full resolution to be to A D F A. But like the chord's mirror image, the German 6th, it too may partially resolve by merely expanding the +6 interval to an octave. Maybe I should make an effort to listen to this Strauss piece, because if this is what it seems, maybe I can call it the Eulenspiegal Sixth.

This chord should not be confused with the Australian +6 (Bb Db E G#), which as you see has the augmented 2nd on the inner two notes, causing it to fully resolve to A C F A. This chord is actually the more common of the two, and is actually like the jazz "altered" chord.

However, the analysis of the Tristan chord in terms of non-harmonic notes (appoggiaturas etc.) suggests that they still can't figure out what that chord may be in its own right. I think the Tristan chord's nature would be more in the clear if Wagner fully resolved it to a 6/4 tonic rather than going by the scenic route: as in

A -> F -> E-> F B D# G# -> E C E A

The only times I ever heard the Tristan get fully resolved is the Stephen Hawkings Universe theme and the final fadeout to The Planets, altho in the latter an a fifth note is added in the bass, making the actual chords FbAbBDF# -> EbGCEbG. The lower four notes spell a Swiss, while the upper four spell a Tristan. But combining them causes the rogue doubly-augmented octave Fb F#.

You mentioned the Tristan (or the French that it appoggiaturas to) as functioning subdominantly, which in A-minor would mean that it is rooted on the D, or in Hungarian-minor D#. But the French 6th is technically supertonic, which would easily resolve to the following dominant E chord. What I am seeing is that the G# which appoggiaturas to the A forms a chord which, not only is wholly contained in the Hungarian-minor (as the French that follows it), but is itself a true tetrad rooted on the 7th degree. In the scales which are in common use, this is the only true tetrad (i.e. based on thirds) that doesn't have it's own name or designation but is treated as a kind of accident resulting from passing tones.

...unless it can be stated that the designation as a Tristan chord is based on spelling and not on voicing .

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chord         notes        full resolutions

Dominant:     D F G B   -> C E G C; C E A C
German:       Db F Ab B -> C E G C
Swiss:        Db F G# B -> C E A C
Half-dim      F A B D   -> E G C E; E A C E
Australian:   F Ab B D# -> E G C E
Tristan:      F G# B D# -> E A C E

[jancivil]

For me, the issue of the Tristan chord is settled. I do not buy that the duration of F B D# G# means it must be a chord in itself; I don't have any need for it to be either. I looked at a long article that presents the lion's share of arguments against it being a french 6ths and agree with the refutation that concludes. Schoenberg had possibly the least cogent one of them all, a self-serving one for 'the breakdown of tonality' basically. It's contrapuntal thinking anyway, and it functions to a dominant, of A minor. It's clear as day to me.

It sounded novel in 1865 but it isn't 'outside' harmonic practice. 'What chord in itself' isn't interesting to me, that cart pulls no horse for me. I understand what he did there. I derive harmony from lines, rather than think in blocks, 'chord names'.

you just made a case for, the same "chord" shouldn't be confused for each other owing only to the particular resolutions, so it would appear that you agree with me, D'Indy et al about function being the meaning of a harmony.

In my estimation, the italian, german or french 6th is a secondary dominant and isn't different in substance than the b5 substitution principle in bop; it may as well be the b5 sub for V of V, which has been characterized as a 'phrygian dominant' and has some historical precedent. The newness of the sound was it's duration seemingly out of key but its resolution is satisfactory and I can't see how it's different than a french 6th in function. I did not say the A6th 'functions subdominantly'. It is certainly built from iv6 and that is the clearest explanation possible for how to build them. (I tend towards a kind of occam's razor per these matters. The arguments I looked last night at were tortured and useless.) I would call it a superdominant if I had to have a buzz word.


a freaking odd chord is R Strauss's Elektra chord, a polychord of C# major over E major. It's cheerfully insane. One might *call* it a C#7 with a #9 in the bass, but it doesn't work like that at all.

[wrench45us]

how is the German version in the example f a c d# so very different from F7 -- f a c eflat

[Ogg Vorbis]

how is the German version in the example f a c d# so very different from F7 -- f a c eflat

Voiceleading. D# resolves upwards whereas in F7 the enharmonically spelled Eb would tent to be used in a downward resolution to D natural.

I think it's important to understand HOW these aug sixth harmonies work and that topic is inseparable from their voiceleading. They function (usually) to prep the dominant harmony. They didn't evolve because some composer wanted to "throw a chord in there."