41: An overview of authentic cadence types

I promised many articles ago an overview of the different subtypes of authentic cadences. Recall that, in general, an authentic cadence is at least “rather strong”, if not “as strong as possible” and, almost always, moves V-I.

Most articles would start with the strongest because it’s also the most common, but I want to buck that trend and in fact go the opposite way with the express goal of building toward the strongest possible cadence.

With that in mind, let’s start with what’s called a leading tone imperfect authentic cadence. These are defined by:

1.       The use of vii°, hence “leading tone”

2.       Resolution to I

Using vii° works, and is allowed, because, if you think about it, vii° is a subset of V7, and so, for for-now-handwavy reasons, it can behave like V7. (Imagine you’re in D—then V7 would be A, C#, E, G, and vii° would be C#, E, G. The only difference between the dominant seventh and the diminished chord built on scale degree 7 is that the dominant seventh, of course, includes the dominant, whereas the diminished chord does not.)

Then, slightly stronger is the inverted imperfect authentic cadence, defined by

1.       Use of V(7) and I, in that order

2.       At least one of which is inverted, in any inversion

This is slightly stronger than the leading tone imperfect authentic because it, at least, includes a dominant chord, though the fact that it (rather than the tonic chord, although nothing prohibits that) is almost certainly inverted means that it’s been weakened and doesn’t have as definite a resolution as is coming.

Next, we have a root position imperfect authentic. This is almost as strong as it gets, but just barely misses the mark. These cadences:

1.       Use V(7) and I, in that order

2.       Both in root position

3.       With a note other than the tonic in the highest voice of the I chord

That third point is what separates this from the strongest of them all—it has all the power of V going to I (as opposed to a diminished chord built on the leading tone), and both are in root position, so there’s the downward pull of the bass falling a fifth from dominant to tonic, but there’s one thing missing for maximum power: the soprano goes somewhere else in the tonic chord, other than to its root.

Without a doubt, the most famous example of this cadence ever written—you could say, the reason I am writing any of this at all— is this one: check it out, starting just before 2:40: Beethoven 9th Symphony Choral 'Ode to Joy' 4th Movement. A toddler heard those 2 chords, then everything fell silent, and that toddler’s (my) world changed forever over the next 3 minutes. Listen for the whole 3 minutes (even better, stay for all of the next 22); trust me, it’s worth it.

Finally, we come to the strongest of all the cadences, the perfect authentic. This is the cadence with the strictest criteria, namely:

1.       V to I

2.       In that order

3.       With both in root position

4.       Where the highest voice of the I chord is its root

If you fail any of those four tests, as they say, do not pass go, do not collect $200, you are absolutely not a perfect authentic cadence.  If you pass all four and want to super-giga-charge your passing score, additionally pass the following 2 tests:

1.       The third of the V chord (i.e., the leading tone) is the top voice of the V chord

2.       The V chord is the dominant seventh, not just a triad

 

 

 

 

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