Neapolitan Chords: Favorite Examples from Mozart
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
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Richard Atkinson discusses his favorite examples of the Neapolitan chord from four of Mozart’s greatest mature masterpieces: The D minor piano concerto, K. 466 (No. 20), the A major piano concerto, K. 488 (No. 23), the C major string quintet, K. 515, and the Requiem Mass, K. 626. This is a fair use educational commentary that uses small excerpts from the following performances/recordings:
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466:
Robert Levin, fortepiano
Christopher Hogwood, Academy of Ancient Music
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488:
Mitsuko Uchida, pianoforte
Jeffrey Tate, English Chamber Orchestra
String Quintet in C major, K. 515
András Fejér (Cello), Károly Schranz (Violin), Gabor Ormai (Viola),
György Pauk (Viola), Gábor Takács-Nagy (Violin)
[Members of the Takács String Quartet]
Requiem Mass, K. 626:
Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Handel: Messiah (HWV 56)
Christopher Hogwood, Academy Of Ancient Music
00:00 - What are Neapolitan chords?
02:48 - Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
05:32 - Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
13:37 - String Quintet in C major, K. 515
17:56 - Requiem Mass, K. 626 
Видеоклипы
The Neapolitan chord with the rising slow arpeggio in the 2nd movement of 23rd piano concerto by Mozart always let me hold my breath and let time stand still for a moment. Absolutely increadible!
has always been a favorite moment of mine as well. nice to now know how it works.
I just want someone to want me as much as that high note D wants to resolve into C# in 8:59.
I played it through on the piano but found that a c# doesn't resolve anything. It was a disappointing effect.
@@citizent6999 If you only played G-B-D, sure, of course it has no tendency to resolve, because you play it like you're in G major. In G major, this note D is perfectly stable and has no desire to resolve into C#. But, remember, in this context here, we are in F# minor. You have to play from the beginning of the movement, not just jump into this measure. It is the context that makes it require resolution.
@@citizent6999 a very disappointing D then?
@@JonathanDavis7 D will often disappoint
That will NEVER happen...
These are the kind of videos I have scoured RUclips for but are hard to find---there are tons of videos analyzing pop and jazz songs, but few that break down classical music in such a great way. For somebody interested in classical music but not deeply classically trained, I benefit so much from your breakdowns of these pieces. I look forward to your future videos on the individual Mozart pieces. I hope you'll take requests some time too!
That orchestra entry after the piano neapolitan is so luscious
One of the most inspired Mozart passages!
Really? What did it taste like?
@@thomaspick4123 😂😂
@@thomaspick4123 in Romanian we do have a word "napolitană" which means "wafer" so, therefore, I did giggle, understandably. 😅🤭😁😜✌🏻🙌🏻😝👌🏻 Tasty. 😂🤣🤔☺️😌🙂😁
@@thomaspick4123 Neapolitan ice cream
I need a channel like yours. I came for the neopolitan chord, and I stayed for the analysis and (small) history lesson.
4:46 I've always loved the suspensions in the oboes here. Not many other composers could've thought of something so fitting to this particular moment. It really shows Mozart's gift for idiomatic woodwind writing.
Makes it sound like organ!
Mozart sure loved his woodwinds, and the feeling is mutual! /A bassoonist
Another part that sounds similar can be found in the Overture to Cosi Fan Tutte
For me its the most beautiful part of a wonderful concerto.
Mozart's 20th Piano Concerto is, imo, the greatest piece of music I have ever heard. I think I listened to only this piece for an entire summer.
Well this sure was an unexpected Christmas present. It's not even Christmas!
I love the way Mozart handles the N6.
That sounds like the Levin interpretation of the Mozart Piano Concerto in D minor - no other player I know plays along with the orchestra before the written entrance because that's how it was done in Mozart's day.
I had the pleasure of hearing Levin play this live
But there isn't it in the original manuscript. Although it appears in NMA score for the first time.
I love when you said almost every Mozart’s piano concerto deserved its own video :) I’m sure he would’ve been proud of his piano concertos.
Can't wait for k. 466 1st movement to be analyzed.
my favorite Neapolitan chord is used throughout Chopin's F# minor polonaise (you'll know which one I mean ). he puts it in 3rd inversion, which Chopin does a lot, and sounds amazing
Great to understand this chord in context. Thanks a lot
Just wanted to say that I love your videos and always learn something new! Thanks for taking the time to share you knowledge!
I have genuine love for how informative your videos are. Keep up the good work!
I always look forward to your videos. Your intellect is unmatched! And so informative, insightful and in depth too! Thank you for these videos
Very nice presentation. Carefully thought out. Thank you
Thank you so much for this!! Absolutely love the example from the Dies Irae, what a breathtaking moment.
Thankyou Richard. Yet another very informative and brilliant work.
1:58 My two biggest criticisms of music pedagogy (at least in the context of common-practice music theory) are that 1) most of the time, students are taught to blindly follow the rules of the period without being given adequate explanations for why the rules exist (in fact, they're often not even told that the rules are mainly relevant in a common-practice context) and 2) the almost exclusive focus on harmony, to the detriment of other important musical features. This is especially problematic because most forms of modern popular music have relatively unsophisticated harmonies and relatively sophisticated timbres and rhythms. If students think music is just harmony, they'll automatically dismiss some of the greatest 21st century music as boring or unsophisticated.
I agree with both of those. That's why I hardly ever focus on roman numeral analysis, which often just leads to fruitless arguments about the several possible accurate ways of labeling something.
Like what, Lady Gaga? :D
@@vivvpprof I don't know much about Lady Gaga, but I'd say that Kendrick Lamar has produced some of the greatest music of the last few decades.
@@alexshih3747 I listened for a while to his "DNA" and it's basically re-worked folk music, e.g. ruclips.net/video/epKIGQOkm5c/видео.html
@@vivvpprof You're technically correct but that's a very reductive and simplistic view of hip-hop. It's like saying Chopin's mazurkas and polonaises are basically reworked Polish folk, that's right but it doesn't even begin to describe it, does it?
Thank you! beautifully explained! now that i see how Mozart used the Neapolitan sixth so masterfully within the context of each example, it has made me appreciate these (some of my personal) favourite Mozart pieces even more :D
You have revolutionary my music life! THANK YOU!!!
Brilliant stuff.
Many thanks sir.
Great job, so clear to understand. thanks.
What an amazing, well produced video!
You better believe that after watching it to the end I liked it and subscribed!
I love Your examples and analysis,,, VERY INSPIRING ! ! !
Thanks for all this precious work ♥
Lovely! Thank you so much for creating these.
Thanks for the best description and explanation of the N6 I have ever seen. It is true what you said - textbooks provide the 'theory' but actually listening and seeing the chord in 'action' like you did made so much more sense.
Thank you for making this excellent video. That quintet is truly sublime. The subtle harmonic complexity and depth are extraordinary, especially given the deceptive simplicity of the thematic material and overall form. The enharmonically altered Neopolitan chord and C# minor chord in the recapitulation are utterly mystifying, yet somehow he know they'd make perfect sense. For me, this exemplifies what sets Mozart's music above everyone else's.
Great video, informative and clear (and really spot-on Italian pronunciation!)
you are simply amazing. i listen to your lectures hypnotized!
I like plenty! As a partially trained musician picking up his lute again, I couldn't be more pleased to find your channel. Both K.466 and K.488 are being recorded this week by Olga Pashchenko and Il Gardinello, using one of my fortepianos. It helps so much to try to get inside these pieces.
Great lesson, thank you for it
I could pass at least 3 hours without stop watching your videos. Or even the whole day. +1 Subscriber, really good quality content there.
Finally figured out why I like your videos so much. They remind a lot about my older brother's classes (university professor though in the completely unrelated discipline of physical therapy). I've had the pleasure of attending and helping with a few, and I love your videos as much as I loved those classes :)
Actually the last example, the Dies Irae, I think is one of the most iconic uses of Neapolitan in all of music
Great video! Thanks!
thank you. great video!
Wonderful video. The substance is frequently beyond my competence. But the video has been fashioned with love and that love is contagious.
Thank you so much for these videos.
Wounderful effort and knowledge ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏 much appreciated.. i hope to see videos analysing whole peices
Fantastic work. Thanks
Very interesting. Thank you!
Awesome, thank for this jewel!!
Sweet, I attended a performance of the D minor concerto by Mitsuko Uchida just last week and was listening to the Levin recording earlier today. Seems like Mr. Atkinson has impeccable timing when it comes to his uploads! 😄 Great job as always!
Try and see and support other performers. A problem is the dominance of a few performers - Uchida, Ashkenazy etc that demand outrageous fees. To understand why this happens you need to understand the industry - which has tendencies towards monopolistic accumulation, like any other. It pays the major labels to have fewer artists and to promote them as 'great'. It allows them to avoid the higher risks and costs of promoting new and different artists. This convenient and self-serving arrangement keeps a certain hierarchy in place. For the health of music (and society) itself, it is a cycle that has to be broken.
Excellent work maestro!
Excelent video! Could you make a video about augmented 6ths? Italian, german and french. It’s a topic that I’ve never understood since school. Thanks!
Awesome suggestion, I'm glad it's now been realized!
Super interesting! You have explained in the best and easiest way the N chord :)
I wish that such a good audio and visual presentation such as this to have in My music school..SO clear and understandable...make Me wonder how it was so hard to understand this? Thank You Richard for this!:)
Thank you for this.
I learned to compose music kind of like a language, the way I fluently use words, not thinking too much about the details of theory. But when I started to explore, for instance, the exposés of the Bach's WTC by Tim Smith, my musical productivity exploded. Now I know what I was really doing when I used Neapolitan chords in my own works! Thank you very much.
Mozart also uses N6/4 and the tonicization of the Neapolitan in Piano Concerto No.24 (last movement).
Fantastic explanation!
My favourite use of the Neapolitan chord is the one at the end of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue.
Complimenti da Palermo! Wonderful video
Excellent , thank you.
I also like the use of N6 at the Andante part of the Don Giovanni Overture, with the use of tremolo in the upper strings
Awesome! I was analyzing that particular opening in the 2nd movement of the 23rd piano concerto last week and kept wondering why the G major chord felt so right in the key of F# minor. D major certainly has the effect of tonicizing the Neapolitan, and is result of the upward chromatic deceptive cadence at C#7. The effect is tremendous on the listener even if they don't know how it works!
I love your idea of teaching theory using the most insanely great passages. All of these are passages that jumped out at me as timeless hooks when I did a non-scholarly binge listening of all mozart's mature pieces.
This part (@ 8:45) almost sounds like it's changed key temporarily to G.
This made theory fun! Love Mozart; all of his music bespeaks genius.
Very enlightening
I have always wondered what you would called a sixth chord with a diminished sixth and now I know. Thank you so much for this video. :)
Loved your analysis!! I just take the opportunity to mention one of my favourite neapolitan chord passage which is the codetta of 1st mvt of Beethoven's Waldstein sonata. Its a passage with two repeating phrases which are an octave apart. The Neapolitan doesn't appear in the exposition but only in the recapitulation, and that too only in the 1st phrase which is quite a memorable moment.
Tfw the orchestra kicks in after the piano solo in the K. 488 A Major Piano Concerto Movement 2 and you hear that violin arpeggio.
Thanks I am too happy to be watching this before sleep :) My amateur brain, still a fledgling in music, always wondered what a Neapolitan chord was. The examples you give and the explanation help me feel its sound... and ofc Mozart equals
Great video and great Italian pronounce!
Thank you teacher
My personal favourite is in Pamina’s lament called “Ach such Fuhl’s” from Die Zauberflote- give it a listen if you don’t know it; it’s so beautiful and difficult to sing!
There's some lovely examples in the Rondo in A minor, K.511
Bro, I understand everything, great explication!
K488, 2nd mov, is sublime. I understand it's the only movement he ever composed in the key of f sharp minor. I have struggled for decades to find the right tempo. Traditionally, Siciliani are a bit faster than what is usually played in this movement. Same can be said of Magic Flute's Ach, ich fuhl, which is often sung too slowly. However, it's hard to pull off the amazing depth of both of these masterpieces at a slightly quicker pace. I can't figure it out.
I’ve actually heard some musicologists make the case that tonality in the 18th century was still utilizing extended meantone tuning rather than equal temperament, which essentially means that a diatonic semitone - G#-A- is aurally wider than its cousin, the chromatic semitone - Ab-A. That would mean the section from the C Major Quintet in c-sharp minor is ever so slightly LOWER than the parallel passage in D-flat. Weird.
I’ve tried to make the case that in parts of Italy this wasn’t always the situation (for want of a better word).
Please, do “Best moments from each piece of Bach’s WTC I & II”
I love your analyses. They make me gain a deeper appreciation of these well known pieces. I wondered if you will ever analyze a piece by Tsaikovsky?
Great video! I advise you to make a video about the use of the IV minor chord.
You should make a video of you explaining how to avoid composing mistakes and how make your writing better.
It's great that we can all look at Mozart's music and, even on as specific a point as the use of Neapolitan 6th chords, there can still be people saying "what about this one that you missed.." My personal favourite is omitted here: it's in the Act II finale of the Magic Flute, in the chorale prelude/fugue section, where Mozart adds an extra phrase to the Lutheran chorale he is quoting, puts a N6 into it, and uses this as a precursor to a modulation to Db that is quite possibly my favourite moment in his entire output, partly because of the audacity of the moment itself but partly because of the way he then resolves this conflict in the most sublime way possible over the next couple of minutes. Genius.
You are doing a great service to music studies .
I'm glad to hear you have movements from Mozart's piano concerti on your to-do list. I have always thought the final movement of K. 459 is prime video-analysis material.
You'll be pleased to know that I already started a video on that movement months ago. It's one of the few Mozart fugal movements I haven't already done a video about!
@@Richard.Atkinson Great to hear! I await it with eager anticipation.
Great video and great Mozart's music!
I appreciated also your remark about harmony and analysis traditional teaching I'd like to have a video from you about which textbooks you might suggest and you found most useful in your learning process…
Wonder if Stewart Macpherson "Melody and Harmony" (1920) is still in print - 100 years next year :)
-
It probably doesn't count. I don't know enough about music theory. But I'm reminded of Mozart's Ach Ich Fuhl's, a death aria which constantly makes you believe that the music is about to modulate back to tonica, and then it takes a turn. (In my opinion, perfecly illustrating the agony and torture of wanting to die, and you feel so close, but you can't.) Half way through the music, it modulates to the dominant, and you're sure it's about to modulate to tonica and wrap up. But the chord rises by a semitone ... and btw, then the soprano explodes in an ff highnote of agony. I know it's not a neapolitan chord because it's over the dominant not the tonica. But I love it. I hope that explanation of a layman made somewhat sense. :'D
"Ach, ich fühl's" is a break up aria, not a death aria.
As a mere amateur music lover, I envy your command and fluency in the most beautiful language ever created.
Thanks - I was working on a roots reggae thing and needed to go from Gmaj to Emaj
What a remarkable analysis video!Thanks Richard! And there's a tiny mistake, before the D7 It should be the K64 at the 12:57
Thank you
Die Zauberflöte has two Neapolitan chords I like a lot. At the end of Pamina's aria Ach ich fühl's, which reinforces the characters pain and in the beginning of the ending sequence in Der, welcher wandert diese Strasse voll beschwerden, which gives a kind of mysterious flavor.
And also near the end of the Queen of the Night aria in Act II
I love the bit at 16:30. The Neapolitan section sounds to me like a tonicization of the Neapolitan, but the augmented 6th chord-the same exact notes as the dominant of the Neapolitan-sounds like a completely different chord.
Osmin's aria 'Trallalera' (Wer ein liebchen hat gefunden) from Mozart's Serail, has an incredibly intense N6 on the second 'Trallalera' ritornello, with a 9th over cellos and Cb!
Thank u for speaking succinctly
The K. 488 example is one of my favorites, too! But I have to admit that the first example of a Neapolitan chord that came to mind was the ending of a Waltz in A-flat major (Act I, No. 2) from Swan Lake. In fact, that instance of the Neapolitan was exactly in the form you showed at 1:50.
Yes, another good example!
Very good analysis. Can you make a similar one for the 2nd movement of the "Posthorn Symphony" of Mozart? This would be really exciting, I think, because he used very interesting chords in there.
Hey Mr Atkinson. Great videos. I was wondering whether you could do a video on Franz Xaver Süssmeyers counter punctual errors in Mozart's Requiem. Many scholars have noted that there are plenty but I would love to know what they are. Thanks for giving us so much great content.
I love that example from Mozart’s string quintet. Also, I’m curious what you would have to say about the strange harmonic shifts Carlo Gesualdo’s music.
Love your work... Is there any hope that we'll see an analysis of Poulenc's piano and wind sextet op. 100
I'm addicted to these videos, really love your work !!
Mozart didn't notate the 17:14 in flats as would be normal for Neapolitan harmony. He intentionally used sharps. Why? Because in addition to the passage and its C#m chord "simply sounding cool" as commenter above rightly observes (even as its chromatic voice leadings follow "the rules"), his sharps show us his harmonic intent.
Previously he made an unusual move from Neapolitan (Db 6/4) to V to VI (A minor), messing with listeners' heads by successively using both available versions of the sixth pitch of the scale, Ab and A and their respective corresponding flatted and natural scale pitches.
Now, he doubles down and uses the Neapolitan and all its implied flatted pitches to *briefly modulate* to plain old A minor with all its natural pitches - except G#.
So he uses sharps all the way, with G# pedal (the only shared pitch between this Neapolitan and Am). First, C#M (over G#). Then G#7 (over G#). Then E# becomes E natural, leaving C#m (over G#). Then the D# becomes D natural 🤤 so we hear a E7 chord (still over the G#!), which resolves "conventionally" to the A minor chord (the other sharps we've been hearing now go away, too) which has been his destination all along - just as it was 1st time we heard it few measures back.
In short, the sharps (in place of the expected flats) tell the reader and performers that he plans to redo his earlier highly unusual resolution of VI flat to VI natural (from the perspective of the C major which is the background to this whole paasage) but even more intensely than before (G#/Ab pedal, use of temporary dominant E7, etc).
Anyway that how this man's ears hear it - and that's how Mozart notated it, too!
I think you win!
Master Teacher, @@Richard.Atkinson - your approval made my day!
@@rabbibarrykornblau9877 As his daughter, I can attest to the fact that it made his day. He is quite proud of his achievement 🏆🏆😄
Nicely done--both the video and the analysis! So, the 2nd time (17:14) Mozart may have notated initially with flats but with the serendipitous move to the minor Neapolitan(!) saw an opportunity to move directly to VI (Am) by skipping the "middle man" V (G) thus deciding to use sharps, instead?
There're just Harmonic min b2 or Melodic min b2...or Enigmatic scales.
Like the Double harmonic min or Harmonic min #4
or Loc Maj7, ion #6, dor #5, phry#4, lyd #3, mix #2, aeo#1
Aeo#1 transfer to (loc bb3, b4, bb7)
oh..if you're familar with different scales..you'll be familar with variations of
loc...loc bb7.. loc b4..loc maj6.. loc b4, bb7...ect..... Loc bb3, b4, bb7
or Loc maj7.lol.....why Not?
Keys are just PITCH of the MAJOR scale ( Reference)
There's different ways to keep track of the 10-ea scales
aeo dor
Harmonic min melodic min
Harmonic min b2 melodic min b2
Harmonic min b5 melodic min b5 ( why not? :-P)
Harmonic min #4 melodic min #4
Ion #6
.....
What if I list it like this?
aeo maj7 Harmonic min
dor maj7 melodic min
phry maj7 Harmonic min b2
mix maj7 Ionian
loc maj7 Ion #6
dor b2 maj7
dor #4 maj7
dor b5 maj7
aeo b2 maj7
aeo #4 maj7
aeo b5 maj7
......................
dor b5 is the ii mode of Harmonic MAJOR
mix b6, maj7 = Harmonic MAJOR
mix b6 = V of Melodic min
Aeo b5 is the iv mode of Melodic min
Harmonic min b5 is the iii mode of HUNGARIAN MAJOR
aeo#4 is the iv mode of Harmonic min b2
aeo #4, maj7 is AKA Hungarian minor.
They had to call them something..
but I dont have a problem playing A min C dim into C# min
I could had play A min B7 into E Major or E min
( A lydian b3 ( melodic min #4 = E Harmonic MAJOR)
I could had play G#7 phrygian b4 ( 1, b4, 5, b7) into C# min..
But hey.. C dim into C# min....works.
it's the same as playing G7....B dim/G into C Maj..or C min
but the A lydian b3 is also a possible dim or full dim
Bb maj or Augment to G min G harmonic , melodic min
Just incase you wanna play the G Mix #2 (A# note instead of Bb) :-P
Any ways....back to the C# min/E MAJOR
C# min....D maj7 E7 F# min /A MAJOR
C# min D dim E7 A harmonic min or A harmonic MAJOR
C# min D7 E7 A Melodic min
C# min D min E dim into F MAJOR or F min....sort like F melodic min
C# min D maj E Maj F# dim into G MAJOR or G min
Do you see the D7......F#dim/D into G MAJOR or G min ?
Notice the D, E or F chords....how they relate back to
C MAJOR/Amin....if i want to modulated back to A min
After the E MAJOR
or I could had easily played F dim into F# min/A MAJOR
F dim, G# dim into A min.
or F maj. Fdim#G maj G# dim into A....whatever ..
it'll be sort of the same movement...if
I did it between the A Natrual min/C Major
A min BbMaj, B dim, C maj, C# into D min
Then the same from Dmin/F Major
D min, Eb maj E dim F Maj F# dim G Maj G# into A
or the same from E min/G MAJOR G# dim/aug into A
or play the G# Maj to D7 ( V of G Major)
Then play Eb Maj( apply it again)
to the C min chord. ( as lydian b3 to G Harmonic MAJOR)
I can play C dim ( B7) D# dim into E min
or D7 into the G MAJOR..again
There's all kinds of cool stuff you can do.
I could had easily play C Maj C# dim into D min, EbMaj to C min
Then G min, F min, E7 into A min again...
Notice the Db/C# is a Maj3 stack below the F min DIAD
G# or Ab is WH or b3 from
F lydian #2 ( A harmonic min) Lydian b3 ( C Harmonic MAJOR)
it'll sound sort of like play F min G7 into C Maj...
You'll see/hear the iv as min....from time to time...
for Cadence...or flavoring
I can even play the Bb Maj after the A min...then alter the A to A MAJOR.
it'll be as if I play A Maj. Bb maj, C Maj D min ( typical spanished guitar
or using the D Harmonic min..A7 into D min
or C# augmented into the D min chord ( II V I) back to C MAJOR..again
if I wanted to...Then alter the C to C7 into F min, E7 into A min again.lmao
Or play the Db..stack over the F min E min A min...for cadence.lol
Then Bb dim C# dim into D Min again...hahahaaaa
Brilliant insight..plus Mozart is 300 years young this year.. you still rock Amadeus..
Bryan Sturgeon
He was born in 1756...
jbckk ok thanks the guys on radio bbc3 did a concert for him last week you better tell them they was wrong
jbckk nice one for the detail and maybe they played a study of his father so this would be the 300 year of that piece.
265 years
at least a good explanation. Thank you a lot!