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Rimsky-Korsakov, Practical Manual of Harmony in English

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov · section 6 of 96

Seventh Chords

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§ 3. A seventh chord consists of a triad with a further third added, which forms a seventh above the bass:

Seventh chord on G: G–B–D–F
Fig. 17 · See it in the reader

It can also be regarded as made of two triads:

The two triads within it: G–B–D and B–D–F
Fig. 18 · See it in the reader

Seventh chords are classified as follows:

The kinds of seventh chord on C, lettered a–g; “with augmented-fifth chord” is printed above f–g
Fig. 19 · See it in the reader

All seventh chords are figured 7.

§ 4. Every seventh chord has three inversions: 1st, the chord of the fifth and sixth (6/5); 2nd, the chord of the third and fourth (4/3); 3rd, the chord of the second (2).

The G seventh chord and its three inversions, figured 7, 6/5, 4/3 and 2
Fig. 20 · See it in the reader

The inversions are told apart by where the second lies — the interval that comes from inverting the seventh: at the top in the first inversion, in the middle in the second, and at the bass in the third.

An inversion keeps its name whatever the arrangement of the three upper parts. For example, the following chords

Three arrangements over the third of the root, each figured 6/5, “etc.”
Fig. 21 · See it in the reader

are always regarded as chords of the fifth and sixth, because the third of the root is in the bass.

The chords

Three arrangements over the fifth of the root, each figured 4/3, “etc.”
Fig. 22 · See it in the reader

are always regarded as chords of the third and fourth, because the fifth of the root is in the bass.

The chords

Three arrangements over the seventh of the root, each figured 2, “etc.”
Fig. 23 · See it in the reader

are always regarded as chords of the second, because the seventh of the root is in the bass.