Bass 217 — Cadential 6/4
D majorThe cadential 6/4 met on its own terms: approached from the subdominant side onto the strong beat, resolving down by step over a bass that does not move.
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Stage 5 of 17
When is a 6/4 allowed?
The four functional types — cadential, neighbour, passing, arpeggio — told apart by approach and departure, not by spelling. The figure alone cannot say which function it serves; reading the context is the stage.
The cadential 6/4 met on its own terms: approached from the subdominant side onto the strong beat, resolving down by step over a bass that does not move.
The cadential 6/4 in minor, approached by the half-step fall from the sixth degree, resolving onto the sharp that makes the dominant real.
The neighbour 6/4: the bass stands still while two upper voices step up and back — the neighbour tone of the species, written as a chord.
The neighbour 6/4 in minor, where the fifth’s upper neighbour is only a half step away and the decoration leans instead of lifting.
The passing 6/4: the bass walks by step from a chord to its own first inversion, and the 6/4 is the motion between them — the passing tone written as a chord.
The passing 6/4 descending in minor, where the passing chord carries the raised sixth the figures must announce.
The arpeggio 6/4: the bass walks its own chord — root, third, fifth — while the harmony stands still and the figures merely report where the bass is standing.
The arpeggio 6/4 in minor: the same standing harmony under a walking bass, closing back to the tonic it never really left.