Cadence formulas

The simple authentic close: dominant to tonic, both in root position, met at the end of a running bass with the soprano arriving on the tonic itself.

The same close twice in one bass: first interior, with the soprano ending on the third, then final, with the soprano on the tonic — the difference between pausing and ending.

The compound cadence: the bass takes the dominant early while the upper voices hold the tonic chord above it as a six-four, then fall by step before the close.

The compound cadence in its older 4–3 form: the fourth alone suspends over the dominant, prepared as a common tone, and resolves to the raised third the sharp demands.

The double cadence: the bass holds the dominant through four stations — plain chord, six-four, suspended fourth, resolution — before the fall to the tonic.

The double cadence in minor, where the ritual’s last station is the sharp: the suspended fourth resolves onto the raised third that makes the dominant real.

The half cadence: a phrase closes on the dominant itself, root position on a strong beat, and the answering phrase pays the resolution it left owed.

The half cadence in minor, where the dominant that ends the question carries the sharp — the question is asked with the leading tone already in hand.

The Phrygian close, ending the exercise itself: the subdominant in first inversion falls a half step onto the dominant, and the line stops there.

The Phrygian close met mid-line: the half-step fall marks the joint between phrases, and the running bass carries on to a full close.

The plagal close in its native position — after the true close: the subdominant settles onto the tonic with the tonic held as a common tone.

The minor plagal close: the same confirmation after the true close, darkened by the minor subdominant and the sixth degree falling inside it.

The deceptive cadence: the dominant resolves, but the bass rises a step to the submediant — every tendency tone keeps its promise except the ear’s expectation.

The deceptive cadence in minor: the bass rises only a half step to the major submediant, and the refusal turns from surprise to shadow.

The evaded cadence, first form: the dominant passes its seventh into the bass, which must then fall by step — the arrival lands on the tonic’s first inversion and cannot end anything.

The evaded cadence, second form: the dominant steps to the tonic’s first inversion directly — where the deceptive close substitutes a different chord, the evaded close substitutes a different inversion.