[Dixielandjazz] The Pineapple Chord

[Tony Davis]

Dennis Mowatt, wrote:

> In orchestral circles hereabouts this chord is referred to as "The
> Neapolitan Sixth". We used to call it the "magic" chord on account of the
> effect the sound of it had on the hairs on the back of our necks!

and Bill Biffle wrote:

> Or Italian Sixth, or German Sixth.  It's been a few years since I studied
> 18thC counterpoint, but I think the way it resolves gives it it's particular
> ethnic name.  The German 6th is the most common, resolving - I believe - to
> the I 6-4 (the second inversion of the tonic chord).
>
> The big question is who cares?

We're gradually edging closer to the truth here, but confusion still reigns.
Fresh from an Open University music course, allow me to shed some light on all
this.

The Neapolitan Sixth is the first inversion of the chord on the flattened
supertonic, i.e. bIIb ( the first 'b' being a flat sign and the second 'b'
indicating a first inversion).  In Baroque music it normally resolves to Ic,
the second inversion of the tonic chord mentioned by Bill Biffle.  In the key
of C this would be a chord of Db (with F in the bass) resolving to C (with G
in the bass).

The Italian and German Sixths (and there's a French version too) are
different: they all contain the interval of an augmented 6th, e.g. A flat to F
sharp.  The vanilla flavour is the Italian 6th, which in the key of C would be
Ab - C - F sharp.  Adding a D to this makes it a French 6th; adding an E flat
(instead of the D) makes it into a German 6th, i.e. Ab - C - Eb - F sharp, and
if you rewrite the F sharp as G flat you have a chord of Ab7, the 'pineapple'
chord.

I've never heard it called that before this discussion began; it must be an
American thing.  Like Dennis, I usually referred to it as the 'magic' chord.
My favourite example of it is in the 12th bar of "You've Been a Good Ol'
Wagon", where it's used to modulate back to the tonic from the relative
minor - delicious.

Who cares?  Well, I do for one, but that's probably because my birth sign is
Virgo...

Cheers,

Tony.

--
Tony Davis
Trumpet/Cornet
Zenith Hot Stompers/Kaminsky Connection/Harlem
Aston, Oxfordshire, UK




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