# Name this cadence



## Vile Consort

What is the name of the cadence, often used by JS Bach, where (in C major) the penultimate chord is D, F, A flat, B (often with a tonic pedal under it) leading to a C major chord.


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## EdwardBast

You asked this question, and it was answered, in June:

Name this cadence

Short version: Those notes over a final tonic pedal in Bach are just non-harmonic tones elaborating the final tonic chord. The real final cadence happened measures before.


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## caters

It's a leading tone IAC. Beethoven is another composer that frequently uses leading tone IAC's in his pieces. Generally speaking, there are 3 types of IAC. There is the root position IAC, the inverted IAC, and the leading tone IAC.

The leading tone IAC is exactly what you are describing, a vii°7 -> I cadence, This I feel to be the strongest of IAC's because of the half step motion and because, it is just 1 note away from a PAC(substitute the Ab for a G and it would be a PAC).

The root position IAC is also pretty close to a PAC in its strength. In this case, both the V and I chords are in root position, but the I chord has a soprano note other than the root.

The inverted IAC is the weakest of them all. As the name implies, this means that the V and/or the I chord is inverted. But with this, I feel 3 different levels of strength depending on the chord that is inverted. If the dominant is inverted, it is close to a PAC in strength, especially if the inverted dominant is a V65 chord. If the tonic is inverted, it is weak. If both the dominant and the tonic are inverted, it is so weak that it is hard to even call it an inverted IAC.


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