Shortened dominant seventh chord

Dominant seventh chord (above the root G) and its shortened form

A shortened dominant seventh chord is a dominant seventh chord whose root does not appear. So there is only a diminished triad . It stands as a ladder triad on the 7th degree of the major scale and is the only diminished triad in this scale.

The dominant interpretation of this sound is based on the leading tone effect of its third and seventh steps. Accordingly, it is described in function theory as a replacement for the dominant seventh chord.

This chord in its 1st inversion ( sixth chord ) had been used as a consonant sound for a long time before it was perceived as its representative and thus dissonant in the late Baroque with the emergence of the dominant seventh chord .

(The dominant seventh chord can also be shortened using the same principle .)

construction

The chord is on the 7th level of the major scale, so its notes correspond to the upper three notes of the dominant seventh chord. This, the partly identical interval structure and the resulting lead tone voltage make it appear as a frequent dominant representative.

Chord cipher

As a dominant seventh chord with a missing root, it is represented with a crossed D; also as Đ ⁷ in adaptation to common briefs .
The tones are counted from the non-sounding root tone; it consists of a third, fifth and seventh (3,5,7), the 1 is missing.

Voice leading

Regular resolution of the seventh ↓ (with the
tritone f'h '(frequency ratio 45/32),
the tonic chord lacks the fifth).

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Resolution of the seventh ↑ into a full
tonic chord.

The chord occurs almost exclusively in the 1st inversion, i.e. standing on the 5, as Đ ₅ ⁷ . The 5th is usually doubled as well.

The resolution differs from the full dominant seventh chord: Due to the lack of an actual seventh tension, the seventh of the Đ ⁷ does not necessarily have to be led down into the tonic third, but can also dissolve into the tonic fifth. For this reason it is also possible to double the seventh - both tones then do not have to be led in the same direction (which would inevitably result in forbidden parallels).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Diether de la Motte, Harmonielehre , ISBN 978-3-7618-2115-2 , 14th ed., Pp. 56–7.

literature

• Reinhard Amon, Lexikon der Harmonielehre , Vienna-Munich 2005, ISBN 3-476-02082-7 , pp. 54–5