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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">In its diatonic form (for instance, C
& E in the bass and tenor moving to D & F and then E & G, all under a held
upper-voice C, creating the appearance of an unresolved seventh chord when D & F sound against the held upper-voice C) is a very old usage, discussed by thoroughbass writers
of the 17th and 18th centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></o:p></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">C.P.E. Bach, for instance, describes this
usage (with the bass either ascending scale-steps 1-2-3 or descending scale-steps 3-2-1) in his initial remarks on "The Chord of the Seventh"
(chapter 13 in the second volume of his Versuch; pages 265-266 of William
Mitchell's English translation).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he
writes (in Mitchell's English translation), "The passing seventh alone may
remain stationery," and then illustrates this with both an ascending bass
(C-D-E) and a descending bass (E-D-C).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Joel Lester<o:p></o:p></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Mannes College of Music<o:p></o:p></font></font></div>
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<div style="color: black; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Nick Braae <braae.nick@gmail.com><br>
To: Smt-talk <Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org><br>
Sent: Wed, Apr 10, 2013 5:05 pm<br>
Subject: [Smt-talk] Queen's Harmonic Technique<br>
<br>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_181206c8-aed3-4c16-b37e-e31079b158ea">
Hi all,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I am carrying out some extensive analysis of British rock band Queen's music for my PhD. In a number of Freddie Mercury-penned songs, he employs a particular harmonic device/cliche, in which one note of the chord (usually the root or flat-seventh) acts as a pedal and two other voices ascend stepwise through a major third with a chromatic passing note. In C major, it would be something like this:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Upper Voice: <span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span> C<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>C <span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>C<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>C<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></div>
<div>Middle Voice:<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>E<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>F<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Gb<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>G</div>
<div>Lower Voice:<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>C<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>D<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Eb<span style="white-space: pre;" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>E, resolving (probably) to F major.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>From a theoretical perspective, it's simple voice-leading with a chromatic passing note, and it can evidently be voiced differently (as Freddie did throughout Bohemian Rhapsody or as ABBA do in So Long, for example). But I wonder whether anybody knows the stylistic origins of this particular voicing (i.e. pedal note as the top voice)? I have a sense of it being a barbershop, or ragtime, or vaudeville piano technique, but if anyone had come across this before in older popular contexts, I would be delighted to hear about it (you can reply to the list, or to me directly at <a __removedLink__1900939335__href="mailto:braae.nick@gmail.com">braae.nick@gmail.com</a>).</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thanks very much,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Regards,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Nick Braae</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>PhD Candidate</div>
<div>University of Waikato</div>
<div>Hamilton</div>
<div>New Zealand</div>
</div>
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