Cadences and closes

The standard close: the bass falls a fifth (or rises a fourth) from dominant to tonic, both chords in root position, while each voice keeps its cadential promise — the leading tone rises to the tonic degree, the second degree falls to it, and the remaining voice holds or steps to the nearest chord tone.

The authentic close dignified with a dissonance on the dominant: the bass takes the dominant degree early while the upper voices still hold the tonic chord above it as a six-four, then fall by step onto the dominant’s own tones before the close.

The long form of the authentic close: the bass takes the dominant and holds it while the upper voices pass through four stations — the plain dominant, the six-four, the suspended fourth, and its resolution to the third — before the fall to the tonic.

A phrase may close on the dominant itself: the harmony reaches the chord of maximum tension and stops there, root position, on a strong beat, leaving the resolution owed.

The minor mode’s own half close: the subdominant in first inversion falls a half step in the bass onto the dominant — the sixth degree to the fifth — while an upper voice rises the other half step from the tonic to the leading tone.

The close from the subdominant side: IV settles onto I with the tonic held as a common tone and the other voices falling by step.

The dominant resolves, but not to the tonic chord: the bass rises a step to the submediant while the tendency tones keep their promises — the leading tone rises to the tonic degree and the second degree falls to it, which is why the third of the submediant chord is doubled.

A close is promised and then slipped: the dominant, instead of falling to a root-position tonic, passes its seventh into the bass or steps to the tonic’s first inversion, so the arrival lands on a chord that cannot end anything.