MUS227: Music Theory III

Dr. Mark Jurcisin

Chromatic Harmony - Borrowed Chords

We began examining chromatic harmony and extending harmonic progression beyond a selected key by introducing secondary dominant and secondary leading tone chords. These chords work to focus the ear away from an original key by alluding to or actually modulating to other keys. There are many ways to introduce chromaticism into harmonic movement of varying complexity. Another method in which chromaticism is applied to harmony is through the use of borrowed chords. The concept of borrowed chords simply relates to "borrowing" chords from a parallel mode: if a phrase is in the major mode one may borrow chords from its parallel minor and vice versa. Let us compare the diatonic chords present in both C major and c minor:

&
C:

w w w
I

ii

w w w w w w
o

iii

w w w

IV

w w w w w w

w w w w w w

w w w
vi

w w w
vii

bbb w & w w
c:
i

ii

III

w w w

w w w
VI

w w w

iv

VII

In the application of borrowed chord harmony, one may, for instance, in C major, substitute a III (E-flat) chord in place of a iii (e minor) chord, or a iio (d diminished) chord in place of a ii (d minor) chord. Please note that we subsitute a borrowed chord based on the same scale degree, such as a ii for a II, a iv for a IV, or a VI for a vi. Borrowing from a minor key when in major is much more common than borrowing from major when in minor, except, perhaps, for substituting IV (F major) for iv (f minor). Below is an example from Schubert that contains numerous borrowed chords. Note the way the Roman numeral analysis is performed.

# # 6 j j j b n j j b j n n & 8 b nn b n ? ## 6 J J J 8 J J J
D:
I

bVI bIII bVI bIII

BOR BOR BOR

BOR

BOR BOR BOR BOR

iv

i iv

.# J J j j j J J #
i V
BOR

j j n #

. . .. .

i V I6

2008 Mark Jurcisin

Chromatic Harmony - Borrowed Chords, p. 2

There are two things to note in harmonic analysis of borrowed chords. First, when borrowing a chord causes a root to be altered (usually down a half-step), you must add the accidental you used to alter the root before the Roman numeral. This applies to borrowing the III, VI, and VII from minor. Thus, using a borrowed III chord from c minor when in C major would be notated as "b III", since the root of a borrowed chord built on the third degree of the C major scale would be lowered from E to E-flat. If you were analyzing a borrowed VI chord in E major you would notate "n III", since the sixth degree of the scale would be lowered from C-sharp to C natural. Conversely, if, when using a borrowed chord, the root does not need to be lowered, such as a borrowed i, iv, or v chord, there is no need to append any accidental to the Roman numeral analysis. The second item to note in analysis of a borrowed chord is the notation of "BOR" above the Roman numeral. This is optional, but encouraged as it eliminates some confusion as to whether an analysis of a borrowed i, iv, or v chord (one without a preceding accidental) is correct or an error in analysis of the mode of a chord. It is also worth noting here that the Picardy Third is not considered a borrowed chord. Borrowed chords are found in inversion and these are noted in the same manner as diatonic triads. Additionally, borrowed chord voice leading in four-part writing follows the same guidelines as the the diatonic chord would follow. That is, follow the same part-writing rules for a bVI as you would a
BOR

diatonic vi chord in a major key. Here are additional analyses of a Rossini excerpt followed by one by Brahms (accompaniment only) that also use borrowed chords.
10

w b 4 w & 4 ?b 4 w 4
F:
I6
4

bw w

w b
BOR

bw w w w

w w w w w

BOR

BOR

i6

ii 5

w w nw w
I

V7

15

b 3 &bb 4 3 ? bb 4 b
Eb:

b b
bVI
BOR

b b

b b
BOR

iv 6

V7