# The finest most fantastic modulations



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

What pieces of music have modulations so clever that you can't help but listen in awe? Like an unprepared/interrupted/irregular cadence or a blatant shift between major and relative minor in the space of two beats, say. I started thinking about this while listening to Chopin's Nocturne Op. 27 No. 7 in C sharp minor. Those blissful opening exchanges of the simple shift of an E to an E sharp. 

I am certain there are many more like that but my mind has gone blank at present. 

Any help please?


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## arnerich (Aug 19, 2016)

One off the top of my head comes to mind. Beethoven's tempest sonata mov. III measure 231. Up to that point this particular passage would go from the neapolitan to the dominant of d minor, but in the recapitulation he makes an unexpected change and goes to a c minor chord that leads to a sudden tonicization of B flat major.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

How about the repeated A major to A minor triad over the "Fate" tympani motif in Mahler's Sixth (which is subverted in the coda, appearing only as the fff A minor while the tympani kills all your hope)? Good stuff.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Dvorak’s Cello Concerto first movement with the minor to major key change. The Pet Shop Boys are whizzes in modulations in certain songs. Mingus too.


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## spidersrepublic (Dec 12, 2017)

The finest modulations for me are always Bach - they're so fine you don't even notice they're happening...


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The most richly modulatory music I know occurs in Wagner, who could move confidently through a kaleidoscope of tonal shifts without ever losing the sense of absolute control and inevitability. It's impossible to point to just one modulation as outstanding, but to sit at the piano and play slowly through a score of _Tristan_ or _Parsifal,_ savoring each harmonic turn, is to enter a state of wonder.


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## arnerich (Aug 19, 2016)

Brahms' piano concerto no.2 2nd movement has an awesome modulation. At the height of the development section D major comes out of nowhere. It is truly a remarkable moment.


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## spidersrepublic (Dec 12, 2017)

The modulations in Strauss' 4 last songs.... pretty dang good


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

The modulations at the climax of Barber's Agnus Dei- a real challenge to singers.


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## ddavewes (Dec 7, 2014)

In Don Giovanni, Act I, the transition just before "Protegga Il Giusto Cielo"





Richard Strauss was quoted as saying he'd give any three of his operas to have written this transition.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Woodduck said:


> The most richly modulatory music I know occurs in Wagner, who could move confidently through a kaleidoscope of tonal shifts without ever losing the sense of absolute control and inevitability. It's impossible to point to just one modulation as outstanding, but to sit at the piano and play slowly through a score of _Tristan_ or _Parsifal,_ savoring each harmonic turn, is to enter a state of wonder.


I am somewhat envious. Being a lay person who knows nothing about music theory, I enter a state of wonder just listening to Parsifal or T&I - I can imagine how intense the pleasure must be for a trained professional who actually understands how the music is put together.


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

In 'Wehmut' Schubert makes the astonishing move from D minor to a radiant F sharp major in one bar, to color the word 'Schönheit' (beauty). Schubert seems to have relished the extra vividness of contrasting colors that results from such a compressed modulation in a short song.


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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

^ Schubert immediately comes to mind -- he has so many wonderful "sunlight" modulations. Personal favorites include the two toward the end of the Andante B flat piano sonata (D960) and toward the end of the G flat Impromptu (D899/Op. 90, No. 3).


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Occurs from 2:25 to 2:38


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

At the end of the 1st movement of Bruckner's 9th





Starts at 25:49. Rising tension and dissonance with that chord at 26:56, then a rather surprising modulation(?) at 27:15 which leads to 27:21: an insanely epic moment of nearly grotesque proportions. 
Don't know if this is anything special from a theoretical perspective but it sounds awesome.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

DeepR said:


> At the end of the 1st movement of Bruckner's 9th
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow! Thank you so much for highlighting this. That passage gave me goosebumps and I'm nearly crying. What a powerful passage of music.


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## Nicksievers (Dec 20, 2017)

Ravel Piano Concerto.

I think the main function of this type of sudden modulation is this technique that is extremely satisfying and not well known:

Take for example the key of C maj. When we have a V7 going to 1 the essential voice leading is the leading tone (b-c) and 7th (f-e). Now we can choose either one of these as the priority and voice it as such (probably in the melody). The process is the same no matter which we use. Say we use the leading tone. We would strongly emphasis the b-c line. However we can reinterpret the resolved note, C, as any scale degree of the next chord, not just the root of the tonic, thus allowing us to move virtually anywhere. The simplest and most common is a reinterpretation of C as the minor 3rd thus bring us to the chord of the relative minor (G7-a min). However we can expand this much further. Making it the major 3rd would seamlessly bring us into Ab. We can make in the maj 7 and bring us to Db. It can be reinterpreted to move almost anywhere and the same process works with the 7th resolving down. What matters is that the leading tone moves where we expect and the surround harmonies can move almost anywhere to create immense color. 

If you listen to lots of Ravel and particularly his piano concerto you will hear this technique employed very often. This is very much a french technique as many of the unexpected changes you hear in impressionistic music are a result of this simple tool. 

But anyway Ravel Piano concerto will make you cry (2nd movement especially). Have fun! Love!


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