Skip to content
In a Noteshell

3.3 Cadenzas

Functions of Cadenzas

  • Cadenzas are stereotypical musical formulas used as punctuation for musical phrasing.
    • Especially having V-I at the end of a phrase.
  • At the cadenzas, we often observe changes to the musical texture:
    • Harmonic rhythms (either speeding up or slowing)
    • “The Rule of least effort” sometimes can be pushed aside.
    • More dense chords (such as 7ths, etc)

When writing homework, you’ll want to identify them.

Types of Cadenzas

  1. Conclusive: Those that sound final
  2. Suspensive: Those that don’t

(Perfect) Authentic Cadenza (PC or PAC)

  • Authentic Cadenza (V-I)
  • Perfect Authentic Cadenza (V-I but with lead-tone resolution on the soprano)
  • Conclusive
  • V-I
  • Both chords need to be in root position
  • Needs to be cadential resting point
  • lead-tone to tonic resolution at the soprano
    • It’s not absolutely essential, but it sounds more final.

Imperfect Authentic (IC)

  • One of the chords in V-I is inverted:
    • V6-I
    • V-I6

Plagal Cadenza (PL)

  • IV-I
  • Is more rare in tonal music but happens
  • Usually found at the end of a piece, and following a Perfect Authentic Cadenza

Demi-Cadenza (DC)

  • Suspensive cadenza
    • X-V
    • Acts a little bit like a comma in the musical phrasing
    • We always suppose that something else will follow it
  • Generally, the V chord will be in root position
  • Generally, this cadenza will be followed by some conclusive cadenza (PAC, AC or IC) later in the phrase.
  • Usually seen as triad (as opposed to a dominant 7th chord, which we’ll study later)

The melody template we used to use looked a bit like this:

X X X DC X X X IC/AC X X X DC X X X PAC

Even if V is followed by I, it CAN be a demi-cadenza, it depends on the phrasing / phrase structure.

Broken Cadenza (BC)

  • Probably my favourite:)
  • Looks like AC (V-I), but instead of resolving on I as expected, we substitute it for VI, IV, or III
    • My favourite version is V-VI, it’s also the most used one.
  • The most typical movement of this cadenza is the bass going from the 5th to the 6th degree.
    • When substituting to IV, the chord will often be in the 1st inversion
  • We’ll learn more about how to use this cadenza later in our studies