Chromaticism and Modulation
How music moves beyond the diatonic scale and shifts from one key to another.
Definition
The use of pitches outside the prevailing key (chromaticism) and the processes by which music establishes a new tonal center (modulation).
Scope
Covers the chromatic resources that extend diatonic harmony — secondary (applied) dominants, borrowed chords and modal mixture, the Neapolitan and augmented-sixth chords, and enharmonic reinterpretation — and the techniques of tonicization and modulation that establish new tonal centers. Excludes the fully chromatic and post-tonal idioms of the twentieth century, treated under music history and analysis.
Core questions
- What is the difference between tonicization and modulation?
- How do secondary dominants and leading-tone chords work?
- What are modal mixture, the Neapolitan, and augmented-sixth chords?
- How does enharmonic reinterpretation enable distant modulations?
- How does increasing chromaticism stretch the limits of the tonal system?
Key concepts
- Secondary (applied) dominant
- Tonicization versus modulation
- Modal mixture and borrowed chords
- Neapolitan sixth
- Augmented-sixth chords
- Pivot-chord modulation
- Enharmonic reinterpretation
History
Chromatic resources expanded steadily from the Baroque through the nineteenth century, culminating in the saturated chromaticism of Wagner and his successors that strained the diatonic key system toward its eventual dissolution in the early twentieth century.
Key figures
- Heinrich Schenker
- Richard Wagner
Related topics
Seminal works
- aldwell2019
- kostka2018
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between tonicization and modulation?
- Tonicization briefly treats a chord as a temporary tonic without leaving the home key; modulation establishes a new key for a sustained passage.
- What is modal mixture?
- Borrowing chords from the parallel major or minor key — for example using a minor subdominant in a major key — to enrich the harmonic palette.