# Half step modulations in classical music



## Nishri (6 mo ago)

Hey guys, I'm looking for classical music pieces with half step (semitone) modulations.
I'm assuming that this type of modulation could appear in the form of enharmonic modulation- when the pivot chord (Ger+6 for example) will be the V of the new tonic.

Need this for a school assignment and I could really use some help cause I'm kinda lost right now...

P.S. examples from different genres (Jazz, Musicals and so on) would be helpful as well.

Thanks!
Shir


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

lands on C major from an imperfect cadence of V of C# minor




D.960/ii


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

I think if my memory serves my right that in the C# minor string quartet by Beethoven the Opus.131 he modulated to D major


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

bagpipers said:


> I think if my memory serves my right that in the C# minor string quartet by Beethoven the Opus.131 he modulated to D major


The second movement is in the key of D major, with the finale C#s of the first movment moving up to D when the second starts. Is that what you're thinking of? Although the movements are played without a break, I would hesitate to call that a modulation. But I guess we can let the OP decide based on how desperate he is for examples.


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

EdwardBast said:


> The second movement is in the key of D major, with the finale C#s of the first movment moving up to D when the second starts. Is that what you're thinking of? Although the movements are played without a break, I would hesitate to call that a modulation. But I guess we can let the OP decide based on how desperate he is for examples.


Yes that is right,the modulation was from movement to movement not inter-movemental.

I don't think there has been a tonal work with that inter-movement modulation,I could be wrong,maybe Liszt might have tried that.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

bagpipers said:


> Yes that is right,the modulation was from movement to movement not inter-movemental.
> 
> I don't think there has been a tonal work with that inter-movement modulation,I could be wrong,maybe Liszt might have tried that.


My hesitation wasn't due to it crossing movements, it was due to the lack of an intervening progression or dominant. There is C# as tonic, then there is D as tonic, and with nothing intervening there isn't a modulation. There's just a lurch. A semitone lurch.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

From E major: uses the chromatic tones Cx, A# to anticipate shift to D# major (in some editions, this section is written in the enharmonically equivalent E flat), and then,-
from D# major: uses the common tone D# as pivot to shift back to E major (via V7 of E, @3:56)




Op.53


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I like commenting here far more than I actually understand and know music. But I know, that in Richard Strauss opera Salome, John the Baptist is represented by C major and Salome by C# major. I would check for the parts when they are both on stage. Maybe there is a combination of the keys following each other ? C major supposedly represents innocence, and adding the crosses of the sharp sign is as if somebody crucified that innocence. That's the only reason I remember it at all.


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

Beethoven transitioned the the second movement of the Emperor concerto which was in B major ,then from B natural to B flat and then from B flat back to the tonic E flat to begin movement III


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

bagpipers said:


> Beethoven transitioned the the second movement of the Emperor concerto which was in B major ,then from B natural to B flat and then from B flat back to the tonic E flat to begin movement III


That seems more like just a sustained octave in the dominant from the perspective of E flat major, with no hint of B flat major.


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> That seems more like just a sustained octave in the dominant from the perspective of E flat major, with no hint of B flat major.


Yes,just a clever wat to get from B major back the home key E flat,Bflat not really a factor.

I usually do it with a French VI, like a Dflat French VI back to C major


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Seems like an easy 4-bar modulation.

I - V - bIII - bVI - bII


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

pianozach said:


> Seems like an easy 4-bar modulation.
> 
> I - V - bIII - bVI - bII


Your saying I(we will say C) V Gmajor Bflat major Eflat major A flat major ?


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

pianozach said:


> Seems like an easy 4-bar modulation.
> 
> I - V - bIII - bVI - bII





bagpipers said:


> Your saying I(we will say C) V Gmajor Bflat major Eflat major A flat major ?


No, more like C - G - Eb - Ab - Db


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Seems like an easy 4-bar modulation.

I - V - bIII - bVI - bII



bagpipers said:


> Your saying I(we will say C) V Gmajor Bflat major Eflat major A flat major ?


No. More like C - G - Eb - Ab - Db


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

pianozach said:


> Seems like an easy 4-bar modulation.
> I - V - bIII - bVI - bII
> No. More like C - G - Eb - Ab - Db


Which example are you talking about?


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

pianozach said:


> Seems like an easy 4-bar modulation.
> 
> I - V - bIII - bVI - bII
> 
> ...


In my post I was just saying Dflat to C ,I'm very atonal I wouldn't go I V anyway


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

bagpipers said:


> I usually do it with a French VI, like a Dflat French VI back to C major





bagpipers said:


> In my post I was just saying Dflat to C ,I'm very atonal I wouldn't go I V anyway


So you're saying you wish Beethoven did those things in that part of his 5th concerto?


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> So you're saying you wish Beethoven did those things in that part of his 5th concerto?


No no ,I'd re-read the last 5 or so posts.Things got a bit off topic briefly ,sorry


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Nishri said:


> I'm assuming that this type of modulation could appear in the form of enharmonic modulation- when the pivot chord (Ger+6 for example) will be the V of the new tonic.


The V7 of D acting as a pivot chord (Ger+6 of D flat major), to shift from D major to D flat major. A, C#, E, G enharmonically spelled as Bbb, Db, Fb, G -




Op.9 No.14.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

EdwardBast said:


> My hesitation wasn't due to it crossing movements, it was due to the lack of an intervening progression or dominant. There is C# as tonic, then there is D as tonic, and with nothing intervening there isn't a modulation. There's just a lurch. A semitone lurch.


I think the idea was that it is related to a Common Tone Modulation, which is one that doesn’t have an intervening dominant either. Like if you were in the key of C Major, ended the phrase with a C in the melody, and C major chord, then held over the C in the melody to start the next phrase in the key of Ab Major, so the C in the melody is with the new tonic chord of Ab. That’s a CTM.

The Beethoven example is kind of a similar idea. But the Common tones are not between two chords, only the two keys. The C# is the tonic of the first key, then he isolates it and it becomes the leading tone of the new key. So, like a Common Tone Modulation, no dominant is required. It is a half step modulation.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

………nevermind….was going to add something


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Op.93/iv


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I always wondered why they invented Roman numerals.
Now I know.
So that people can track chord modulations.
Very clever.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

the measures inside the box: by the shift, [Cb, Ab, Eb]—[B, G#, E], the altered, A flat minor triad, i6 (G sharp minor, enharmonically) leads to V64 of A minor, acting as a transition between the section in A flat and the one in A minor-


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

The great Sibelius *Symphony No.7* begins in half-step modulations. Here's one of the greatest modern Sibelians -- Leif Segerstam. I prefer Mravinsky's greater pace and drama but this one is terrific too and perhaps spells out the modulation better in the beginning.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

The resolving modulation of a famous and beautiful melody:


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

No one's taking my bait  okay okay. One of the most famous set of half-step modulations in Classical, "I commission a piece that should veer completely off-key for a while then resolve through possibly 8 measures of half-step modulations. Yes. Sounds like an idea we need..."


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

1:25~3:00




WAB80


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

The iv6 in E major (altered, E minor) acts as a pivot to the V7 of F minor, to transition from E major to F minor.


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