Neapolitan Chord - Further Harmonic Contexts

Further Harmonic Contexts

A common use of the Neapolitan chord is in tonicizations and modulations to different keys. It is the most common means of modulating down a semitone, which is usually done by using the I chord in a major key as a Neapolitan chord (or a flattened major supertonic chord in the new key, a semitone below the original).

Occasionally, a minor 7th or augmented 6th is added to the Neapolitan chord, which turns it into a potential secondary dominant that can allow tonicization or modulation to the ♭V/♯IV key area relative to the primary tonic. Whether the added note were notated as a minor 7th or augmented 6th would largely depend how the chord was going to resolve. For example, in C major or C minor, the Neapolitan chord with an augmented 6th (B-natural added to D♭ major chord) would very likely resolve in C major or minor, or possibly into some other closely related key such as F minor; but if the extra note were considered as an added seventh (C♭), this would be the best notation if the music were to lead into G♭ major or minor. (If the composer chose to lead into F♯ major or minor, very likely the Neapolitan chord would be notated enharmonically based on C♯ (for example: C♯-E♯-G♯-B), although composers vary in their practice on such enharmonic niceties.)

Another such use of the Neapolitan is along with the German augmented sixth chord, which can serve as a pivot chord to tonicize the Neapolitan as a tonic. Play In C major/minor, the German augmented sixth chord is an enharmonic A♭7 chord, which could lead as a secondary dominant to D♭, the Neapolitan key area. As the dominant to ♭II, the A♭7 chord can then be respelled as a German augmented sixth, resolving back to the home key of C major/minor.

In rock and popular music, examples of its use, notated as N and without "traditional functional connotations," include Fleetwood Mac's "Save Me", Journey's "Who's Crying Now", and The Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper". The Neapolitan sixth also figures prominently, with its traditional function, in the main title music by Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell for the 1998 movie Antz.