View source for Minor major seventh chord

{{Short description|Seventh chord composed of four notes}}
{{Infobox chord|
chord_name=minor/major seventh chord|
first_interval=[[Root (chord)|root]]|
second_interval=[[minor third]]|
third_interval=[[perfect fifth]]|
fourth_interval=[[major seventh]]|
tuning=[[just intonation|40:48:60:75]]|
forte_number=4-19|
complement=8-19
}}
[[File:Minor Major seventh chord.wav|thumb|Minor major seventh chord]]
A '''minor major seventh chord''', or '''minor/major seventh chord''' (also known as the '''Hitchcock Chord''') is a [[seventh chord]] composed of a [[Root (chord)|root]], [[minor third]], [[perfect fifth]], and [[major seventh]] (1, {{music|b}}3, 5, and 7). It can be viewed as a [[minor triad]] with an additional major seventh. When using [[Chord names and symbols (popular music)|popular-music symbols]], it is denoted by e.g. m<sup>(M7)</sup>. For example, the minor major seventh chord built on A, written as e.g. Am<sup>(M7)</sup>, has pitches A-C-E-G{{music|sharp}}:
:<score sound="1">
{
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' {
\clef treble
\time 4/4
\key c \major
<a c e gis>1
} }
</score>
The chord can be represented by the [[Pitch class#Integer notation|integer notation]] {0, 3, 7, 11}.
== Use ==
The chord occurs on the [[tonic (music)|tonic]] when harmonizing the [[harmonic minor scale]] in seventh chords. That is, the first, third, fifth, and seventh [[scale degrees]] of the harmonic minor scale form a minor major seventh chord, as shown below.
:<score sound="1">
{
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' {
\clef treble \time 7/4 \key c \minor
\once \override NoteHead.color = #red c4^\markup { "C harmonic minor scale" } d \once \override NoteHead.color = #red es f \once \override NoteHead.color = #red g aes \once \override NoteHead.color = #red b c2 }
}
</score>
The harmonic minor scale has a [[major seventh|raised seventh]], creating a [[minor second]] (half step) between the seventh and the octave. This half step creates a pull ([[leading tone]]) to the tonic that is useful in harmonic context and is not present in the [[natural minor scale]]. Traditionally, in [[Classical music|classical]] and [[jazz]] contexts, when building a chord on the [[dominant (music)|dominant]] of the minor tonality, this raised seventh is present, and so both of these chords have a strong pull to the tonic.
This chord appears in classical music, but it is used more in the late [[Romantic music|Romantic period]] than in the [[Classical period (music)|Classical]] and [[Baroque music|Baroque periods]]. However, a striking example may be found in the final bar of [[J.S.Bach|Bach]]'s ''[[St Matthew Passion]]''. The chord occurs on the first beat, but the sharp seventh (B natural) is resolved upwards to a C. [[John Eliot Gardiner]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Gardiner|first=John Eliot|title=Music in the Castle of Heaven|date=2013|page=427|isbn=978-1400031436}}</ref> hears this chord in context as an "unexpected and almost excruciating dissonance... the melody instruments insist on B natural—the jarring leading tone—before eventually melting in a C minor cadence."
[[File:Bach St Matthew Passion closing bars version for audio.wav|thumb|Bach ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'' closing bars]]
[[File:Bach St Matthew Passion closing bars.png|thumb|center|500px|Closing bars of the final chorus of Bach's ''St Matthew Passion'']]
The chord, which has [[Forte number]] 4-19, "may be regarded as the sonic emblem of music of the [[Second Viennese School]] because of its prevalence and multiple strategic functions."<ref>James Kenneth Wright, Alan M. Gillmor, eds. (2009). ''Schoenberg's Chamber Music, Schoenberg's World'', p. 62. Pendragon. {{ISBN|9781576471302}}.</ref> An example would be the chord that concludes the first movement of [[Alban Berg]]'s [[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]] without resolving as Bach did, creating "an inconclusive final cadence" with "no decisive connotation of tonal closure".<ref>Pople, A. (1991, p. 54) ''Berg: Violin Concerto''. Cambridge University Press. </ref> The chord, initially sung by voices, also permeates the sound world of the opening movement of [[Luciano Berio]]'s ''[[Sinfonia (Berio)| Sinfonia]]''. <ref> Berio, L. (1968, p. 5, bar 3) Sinfonia. London and Vienna, Universal edition. </ref> Another notable use is in the fourth movement of [[Samuel Barber]]'s [[Piano Sonata (Barber)|Piano Sonata]]; the subject of the [[fugue]] begins with a minor major seventh chord presented as an arpeggio. The [[arpeggio]] is heard many times throughout the fugue.<ref>[[Samuel Barber|Barber, S.]] (1950, p. 50) Piano Sonata. New York, Schirmer</ref> The minor major seventh chord is most often used in jazz, typically functioning as a minor tonic. Jazz musicians usually [[improvise]] with the melodic minor scale over this chord; the harmonic minor scale is also used. Additionally, [[Bernard Herrmann]]'s use of this chord – most notoriously in his score for ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' – has earned it the nickname, "The [[Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock]] Chord".<ref>Brown, Royal (1994). ''Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music'', chapter 6. {{ISBN|0-520-08544-2}}. Cited in Sullivan, Jack (2006). ''Hitchcock's Music'', p. 285. {{ISBN|0-300-11050-2}}; Cooper, David (2005). ''Bernard Herrmann's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: A Film Score Guide'', p. 167. {{ISBN|0-8108-5679-4}}; and Donnelly, Kevin (2005). ''The Spectre of Sound: Music in Film and Television'', p. 108. {{ISBN|1-84457-025-8}}.</ref> In [[flamenco]], guitarists often use this chord as an abstract chord to create atmosphere and it gives a [[Moors|Moorish]] feel with the tension between the minor and major. See for example, the guitar chord at Figure 8 of the second movement of Rodrigo's ''[[Concierto de Aranjuez]]''.<ref>[[Joaquín Rodrigo|Rodrigo, J.]] (1939, p. 46) ''Concierto de Aranjuez''. London, Ernst Eulenburg, EE6785</ref> See also Benessa's dissertation for how this tension was used by the Moors during the [[Spanish Renaissance]] period to capture a surprisingly wide spectrum of emotions in their musical works.<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Benessa|first=Katharyn Reishus|title=Secular Song of the Spanish Renaissance: Portrayals of Moors and Christians During the Reign of Isabel and Fernando, the Reconquest, and the First Morisco Rebellion|type=PhD dissertation|date=August 2018|url=https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations/478/|publisher=University of Northern Colorado}} [https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1484&context=dissertations PDF]</ref>
The chord, infrequent in [[rock music|rock]] and [[popular music]], is "virtually always found on the fourth scale degree in the major mode", thus making the seventh of the chord the [[mediant|third]] of the scale and perhaps explaining the rarity of the chord, given the "propensity of the third scale degree to be lowered as a [[blue note|blues alteration]]."<ref>Stephenson, Ken (2002). ''What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis'', p. 87. {{ISBN|978-0-300-09239-4}}.</ref> {{citation needed-span|date=October 2021|text=Examples occur in [[Lesley Gore]]'s "[[It's My Party (Lesley Gore song)|It's My Party]]" (see also [[augmented triad]]), [[the Chiffons]]' "[[One Fine Day (song)|One Fine Day]]", [[The Beatles]]'s "[[Something (Beatles song)|Something]]", [[Mariah Carey]]'s "[[Vision of Love|Vision Of Love]]", [[Pink Floyd]]'s "[[Us and Them (song)|Us and Them]]", [[Toni Braxton]]'s "[[I Don't Want To]]", [[Radiohead]]'s "[[Life in a Glasshouse]]", [[The Cure]]'s "In Your House" (1:12), [[Depeche Mode]]'s "Jezebel", and [[Magdalena Bay (band)|Magdalena Bay]]'s "Hysterical Us"}}.
==Minor major seventh chord table==
:{| class="wikitable"
!Chord
!Root
!Minor 3rd
!Perfect 5th
!Major 7th
|-
!Cm<sup>M7</sup>
|C
|E{{music|b}}
|G
|B
|-
!C{{music|#}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|C{{music|#}}
|E
|G{{music|#}}
|B{{music|#}} (C)
|-
!D{{music|b}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|D{{music|b}}
|F{{music|b}} (E)
|A{{music|b}}
|C
|-
!Dm<sup>M7</sup>
|D
|F
|A
|C{{music|sharp}}
|-
!D{{music|#}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|D{{music|#}}
|F{{music|#}}
|A{{music|#}}
|C{{music|##}} (D)
|-
!E{{music|b}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|E{{music|b}}
|G{{music|b}}
|B{{music|b}}
|D
|-
!Em<sup>M7</sup>
|E
|G
|B
|D{{music|#}}
|-
!Fm<sup>M7</sup>
|F
|A{{music|b}}
|C
|E
|-
!F{{music|#}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|F{{music|#}}
|A
|C{{music|#}}
|E{{music|#}} (F)
|-
!G{{music|b}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|G{{music|b}}
|B{{music|bb}} (A)
|D{{music|b}}
|F
|-
!Gm<sup>M7</sup>
|G
|B{{music|b}}
|D
|F{{music|#}}
|-
!G{{music|#}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|G{{music|#}}
|B
|D{{music|#}}
|F{{music|##}} (G)
|-
!A{{music|b}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|A{{music|b}}
|C{{music|b}} (B)
|E{{music|b}}
|G
|-
!Am<sup>M7</sup>
|A
|C
|E
|G{{music|#}}
|-
!A{{music|#}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|A{{music|#}}
|C{{music|#}}
|E{{music|#}} (F)
|G{{music|##}} (A)
|-
!B{{music|b}}m<sup>M7</sup>
|B{{music|b}}
|D{{music|b}}
|F
|A
|-
!Bm<sup>M7</sup>
|B
|D
|F{{music|#}}
|A{{music|#}}
|-
|}
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Chords}}
[[Category:Seventh chords]]