Harmonic Dissonance
Dissonance at the chord level, to resolve or deliberately suspend
Related
Harmonic dissonance is dissonance at the chord level: not the harshness of a single interval but the instability of a whole chord within a key, asking for resolution. Dominant sevenths, diminished sevenths and augmented sixths belong here.
It differs from interval dissonance: an interval may be consonant yet dissonant inside a chord, and the reverse. The usual mistake is to equate dissonance with ugliness — dissonance is the source of direction and tension; without it, harmony has no desire to come home.
Read deeper → resolution
Sources
- 和声不协和的功能与解决，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Dissonance"；本文为原创表述
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