Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov · section 33 of 96

The Triad of the Third Degree of the Natural Minor Mode (Phrygian Cadence of the First Kind)

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§ 32. — 1) Use it, like the chord of the same degree in the major mode, to harmonize the second tetrachord of the natural minor scale descending:

The second tetrachord of the natural A minor scale, descending in the melody: A–G–F–E — Fig. 112 · See it in the reader

2) Place it after the triad of the first or of the sixth degree, and follow it with the subdominant triad:

Three progressions in A minor with the natural III triad (C major) under the descending tetrachord A–G–F–E: (1) I – III – IV – I; (2) and (3), labelled “Phrygia — Fig. 113 · See it in the reader

Examples 2 and 3 form a series of chords called the Phrygian succession (the name comes from the ecclesiastical Phrygian mode); when it is used as a half cadence in the minor mode it is called the Phrygian cadence.