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Rameau, Treatise on Harmony in English

Jean-Philippe Rameau · section 75 of 109

Chapter thirty-two

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On the Augmented-Seventh Chord

The augmented-seventh chord differs from the eleventh chord only in the third of the fundamental sound, which is major here instead of minor.

Example

Augmented-seventh chord. G, E, C, A: fundamental sound. D: added sound.
Fig. 282 · Play this example in the reader ▶
Eleventh chord. G, E, C, A: fundamental sound. D: added sound.
Fig. 283 · Play this example in the reader ▶

[Manuscript note: see the Supplement.]

This chord, which occurs only on the tonic note, must be preceded and followed by the perfect chord on that same tonic.

Example

Augmented seventh; suspensions A and resolutions B.
Fig. 284 · Play this example in the reader ▶

The sounds at A suspend those at B, and these marks [diagonal lines] indicate the natural progression of the sounds at A.

The sound forming the augmented seventh is often omitted from this chord when the bass descends a whole tone or semitone.

Example

Chord figured with 2; continuo bass and fundamental bass.
Fig. 285 · Play this example in the reader ▶
Another example; continuo bass and fundamental bass.
Fig. 286 · Play this example in the reader ▶

This chord is figured with 2 because it is prepared like the second chord. But since the fifth and fourth occur together in it, that fourth can only be regarded as a dissonance by supposition. Indeed, this chord represents the eleventh or augmented-seventh chord with the sound omitted that appears immediately afterward in the bass at D, because that sound does not welcome its octave equivalent.