[Dixielandjazz] The Pineapple Chord

[Bill Biffle]

Thanks, Tony.  NOW I remember :-)}  (from 40 years ago!).

BB
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Davis" <tony at tony-davis.co.uk>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] The Pineapple Chord


> 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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