Half-cadential progression

The information on this page may be skewed – click here for details.

The info on this page is either entirely based on or mostly based on the content published in caplin-2013 or caplin-1998. Caplin is considered to be responsible for reviving interest in the analysis of form in North American music theory.

While Caplin's impact cannot be understated, it is worth understanding that his 1998 work (and his 2013 followup) are focused on Classical music: particularly the works of Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart. It is important to not assume other styles of music (both preceding and following the classical era, or music in other parts of the world) follow these same conventions. Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive, and so the theory you see describing what was common in the Classical era may not apply to anything else.

A half-cadential progression is a cadential progression where the dominant harmony is the "goal" of the progression. To ensure a progression feels stable when concluding, the dominant harmony should be a root position triad – a dom7 chord is too unstable.¹

Half-cadential progressions can have the same harmonies as authentic cadential progressions as long as the progression does not end with the tonic and that the dominant harmony is a root position triad.²

It is common for the final dominant in a half-cadential progression to be approached by harmony based on the 6th degree.³