MUS 357– Aaron Grant LESS COMMON AUGMENTED SIXTH CHORD SPELLINGS EXPLORE Although most of the augmented sixth chords you will find in the literature can be described as one of the three "national" types we have been working with, there are some less common variants of these chords that are important to discuss. Two of these types are displayed below. Analyze these passages with a partner, and discuss the two new forms of augmented sixth chords marked with arrows. How do they differ from typical augmented sixth chord spellings or voicings? Does the voice leading still work the same? Tchaikovsky, Sleeping Beauty, scene 1, mm. 62–78 MUS 357– Aaron Grant Schubert, "Der Doppelgänger," mm. 36–43 36 40 KEY POINTS In the Tchaikovsky excerpt, we see an example of a German diminished-third chord (Ger°3). This chord games its name because it places raised scale degree 4 in the bass, thus inverted the characteristic augmented sixth interval into a diminshed third. Note that: • This chord is typically approached through chromatic voice exchange. • The voice leading of a German diminished 7th chord still maintains the same voice leading as a typically German augmented sixth. In the Schubert song, we see an example of a secondary augmented-sixth chord—a type of chord that uses the same principals of the augmented sixth to lead to a tonic rather than a dominant chord. Note that: • The typical augmented sixth is maintained given ß^2 in the bass and 7^ in an upper voice. • This is an example of a German augmented sixth (albeit one that becomes a French), but any of our three main augmented sixth chords can appear as a secondary augmented sixth. MUS 357– Aaron Grant OTHER VARIANTS Aside from the above two variants of augmented-sixth chords, it is also worth noting that there are two alternate spellings that composers sometimes take advantage of: • A Ger+6 chord can be spelled with raised 2^ taking the place of 3.^ • A Fr+6 chord can be spelled with 7^ taking the place of 1^ In both cases, continue to label the chords as German and French augmented-sixth chords as normal. Moreover, the chord still resolves as expected, with all voices moving by step or common tone to members of the next chord. .