ABSTRACT

This chapter investigates a variety of progressions that are routinely characterized as “defective” by instructional manuals. A careful examination of tonal literature reveals that these syntactical anomalies occur with relative frequency. The harmonic surface and rhythmic texture imply some measure of stillness on the third beat of m. 52, because the deeper contrapuntal level conveys restlessness because a passing chord is an unstable entity that seeks stepwise motion toward a harmony of greater structural import. Metric or hypermetric accentuation often is a leading interpretive guide in the progressions. F. A. Berwald’s inverted accented 64 is characterized by conditional completeness. The harmonically dormant iv supports inner-voice neighboring motions and embellishes the surrounding tonic harmony. Johannes Brahms’s harmonic divider is derived from contrapuntal motion in the upper voices and arpeggiation in the bass.