Resolution
The move from dissonance or tension to a stable, expected target
Related
Resolution is the move from a dissonance or tension to a stable target, usually by step. A suspension falls to a chord tone, a leading tone rises to the tonic, a dissonant interval turns consonant: each fulfils an expectation already formed.
Resolution is not a cadence. A cadence closes a phrase; a resolution can occur on any beat and in any voice. A cadence may contain several resolutions; one resolution need not make a cadence. It can be delayed, avoided or replaced: a retardation postpones it, a deceptive move sidesteps it, an enharmonic turn leads it elsewhere.
The point is that expectation is kept. Without an established tendency, a note moving anywhere is not a resolution; with a clear tendency deliberately denied, the result is suspension or shock. Ask what the ear waits for, then hear what the music gives.
Sources
- 解决的定义、与终止的区别及延迟与规避写法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Resolution"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.