Sixth chord

Analysis of the movement of the root, in the presence of dominant-functioning harmonies, will generally indicate which enharmonic chord is the appropriate notation choice.

The presence of the perfect fifth interval over the root also means that this voicing is more stable than the half-diminished seventh chord.

Instances of the sixth chord crop up in popular music towards the end of the 19th century, for example in Johann Strauss II’s "The Blue Danube" waltz.

Kurt Weill’s song "Mack the Knife" from the Threepenny Opera (1928) uses the chord from the start, resulting in "a sort of bitonality: A minor in the melody, C major in the harmony.

(1965) [15] and "The Fool on the Hill" (1967),[16] Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee's "Bring Me Sunshine" (1968),[17] The Young Rascals' "Groovin'" (1967), Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975),[18] Steely Dan's "Bad Sneakers" (1975) and Styx's "Babe" (1979).

3 (1802):According to Denis Matthews, "the most striking moment in the sonata is its opening, where an ambiguous added-sixth chord on the subdominant resolves itself through a series of halting steps, rhythmically and harmonically, towards the tonic.

In the opening section of his Fantasy-Overture, Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky uses the minor added sixth chord to striking effect:Debussy frequently used the sixth chord, for example in his piano prelude General Lavine-Eccentric (1913), whose idiom alludes to the popular idioms of cakewalk and ragtime of the early 1900s.

The following passage "is in F major; its seeming pentatonicism (C–D–F–G–A) is found to be the outline of the tonic added sixth chord, plus the G as passing tone…"[20]Maurice Ravel’s 1920 ballet La Valse, which contains subtle echoes of the late 19th century Viennese Waltz,[21] incorporates added sixth chords in its harmony: The timeless, meditative closing bars of Gustav Mahler’s song "Abschied" from Das Lied von der Erde (1909) fully exploit the expressive power and ambiguity of the sixth chord.

"The final sonority, the famous added-sixth chord, is particularly ingenious... because it fuses the two principal keys of Das Lied (A minor and C major).

"[22]Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto (1935) ends with a "tonic triad of B flat, with added sixth [that] follows a harmonic progression found frequently in 1930s dance-band arrangements.

"[23] However, Richard Taruskin points out that Berg's "chord thus created, B flat, D, F, G had an important poetic resonance", as it echoes the ending of Mahler's "Abschied.

It is generally not allowed as the root since that inversion resembles a seventh chord on the sixth rather than an added tone on the original note.