Tristan chord

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Tristan chord
Component intervals from root
augmented second
augmented sixth
augmented fourth (tritone)
root [F]
Forte no. / Complement
4–27 / 8–27

The original Tristan chord is heard in the opening phrase of Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde as part of the leitmotif relating to Tristan. It is made up of the notes F, B, D♯, and G♯:

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \relative c' { \clef treble \key c \major \time 4/4 <dis gis>1 } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \key c \major \time 4/4 <f b>1 } >> >> }

More generally, the term refers to any

augmented fourth, augmented sixth, and augmented ninth above a bass note
.

Background

The notes of the Tristan chord are not unusual; they could be

respelled enharmonically to form a common half-diminished seventh chord
. What distinguishes the Tristan chord is its unusual relationship to the implied key of its surroundings.

{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \new Voice \relative c'' { \clef treble \key a \minor \time 6/8 \voiceOne \partial8 r8 R2. \once \override NoteHead.color = #red gis4.->(~ gis4 a8 ais8-> b4~ b8) r r } \new Voice \relative c' { \override DynamicLineSpanner.staff-padding = #4.5 \once \override DynamicText.X-offset = #-5 \voiceTwo \partial8 a\pp( f'4.~\< f4 e8 \once \override NoteHead.color = #red dis2.)(\> d!4.)~\p d8 r r } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \key a \minor \time 6/8 \partial8 r8 R2. \once \override NoteHead.color = #red <f b>2.( <e gis>4.)~ <e gis>8 r r } >> >> }

This motif also appears in measures 6, 10, and 12, several times later in the work,[clarification needed] and at the end of the last act.

Martin Vogel [de] points out the "chord" in earlier works by Guillaume de Machaut, Carlo Gesualdo, J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, or Louis Spohr[1] as in the following example from the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18:

{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \new Voice \relative c'' { \clef treble \key es \major \time 3/4 \override DynamicLineSpanner.staff-padding = #4 \stemUp ces8.^( f,16) f4 r4 ces'8.^( f,16) f4 r4 <es f>^.^(\< <es f>^. <es ges>^.)\! \once \override NoteHead.color = #red aes2. } \new Voice \relative c' { \stemDown <ces es>2 s4 <ces es>2 s4 s2. \once \override NoteHead.color = #red es2_(\> d4)\! } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \key es \major \time 3/4 <aes es' f aes>2 r4 <aes es' f aes>2 r4 <aes' ces>4_._( <aes ces>_. <ges ces>_.) \once \override NoteHead.color = #red <f ces'>2. } >> >> }

The chord is found in several works by

Chopin, from as early as 1828, in the Sonata in C minor, Op. 4 and his Scherzo No. 1, composed in 1830.[2] It is only in late works where tonal ambiguities similar to Wagner's arise, as in the Prelude in A minor, Op. 28, No. 2, and the posthumously published Mazurka in F minor, Op. 68, No. 4.[3]

The Tristan chord's significance is in its move away from traditional tonal harmony, and even toward atonality. With this chord, Wagner actually provoked the sound or structure of musical harmony to become more predominant than its function, a notion that was soon explored by Debussy and others. In the words of Robert Erickson, "The Tristan chord is, among other things, an identifiable sound, an entity beyond its functional qualities in a tonal organization".[4]

Analysis

Much has been written about the Tristan chord's possible harmonic functions or voice leading and the motif has been interpreted in various ways. Though enharmonically equivalent to the half-diminished seventh chord Fø7 (F–A♭–C♭–E♭), the Tristan chord can also be interpreted in many ways. Nattiez distinguishes between functional and nonfunctional analyses of the chord.[5]

Functional analyses

Functional analyses have interpreted the chord in the key of A minor in many ways:

{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \new Voice \relative c'' { \clef treble \key a \minor \time 6/8 \voiceOne \partial8 r8 R2. gis4.(~ gis4 \once \override NoteHead.color = #red a8 ais8 b4~ b8) r r } \new Voice \relative c' { \voiceTwo \partial8 a( f'4.~ f4 e8 \once \override NoteHead.color = #red dis2.)( d!4.)~ d8 r r } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \key a \minor \time 6/8 \partial8 r8 R2. \once \override NoteHead.color = #red <f b>2.(_\markup { \concat { "Fr" \raise #1 \small "+6" \hspace #8 "V" \raise #1 \small "7" } } <e gis>4.)~ <e gis>8 r r } >> >> }
F–B–D♯–G♯ → F–C♭–E♭–A♭ → F–B–D–A = D–F–A

Vincent d'Indy[19] analyses the chord as a IV chord after Riemann's transcendent principle (as phrased by Serge Gut:[20] "the most classic succession in the world: Tonic, Predominant, Dominant" ) and rejects the idea of an added "lowered seventh", eliminates "all artificial, dissonant notes, arising solely from the melodic motion of the voices, and therefore foreign to the chord," finding that the Tristan chord is "no more than a predominant in the key of A, collapsed in upon itself melodically, the harmonic progression represented thus:

{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \relative c' { \clef treble \key c \major \time 3/4 <d a'>2. <e b'> } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \key c \major \time 3/4 <f a>2._\markup { \concat { "IV" \raise #1 \small "6" \hspace #3.5 "V" } } <e gis> } >> >> }

Célestin Deliège [fr], independently, sees the G♯ as an appoggiatura to A, describing that

in the end only one resolution is acceptable, one that takes the subdominant degree as the root of the chord, which gives us, as far as tonal logic is concerned, the most plausible interpretation ... this interpretation of the chord is confirmed by its subsequent appearances in the Prelude's first period: the IV6 chord remains constant; notes foreign to that chord vary.[21]

{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \new Voice \relative c { \clef treble \key a \minor \time 6/8 \partial8 s8 s2. \stemUp \slashedGrace { dis'8 } gis4.^~ gis4 \parenthesize a8 \slashedGrace { ais8 } \stemUp b2. } \new Voice \relative c' { \partial8 a8 \slashedGrace { f'8 } \parenthesize <a, c e>2. \stemDown dis2._( d) } >> \new Staff << \relative c { \clef bass \key a \minor \time 6/8 \partial8 r8 R2. <e~ b'>2. <e gis>2. } >> >> }