Looking for First Phrases that Begin with a Dominant Chord

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• 24 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
• 2 Likes

  Brent Yorgason

  November 2016 @Brent_YorgasonSend Brent_Yorgason a private message.Vote Up1Vote Down

  Lots of Chopin Mazurkas! op. 6 no. 1; op. 7, no. 1; op. 24, no. 1, op. 24, no. 3; op. 24, no. 4; op. 30, no. 1; op. 33, no. 3; op. 41, no. 2; op. 50, no. 1; op. 63, no. 2; and op. 67, no. 2 are the ones that I identified with a quick perusal.
• Brad Osborn

  November 2016 @BradOsbornSend BradOsborn a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Radiohead, "I Will" (2003), in C#m—yes, with raised leading tone (i–VI7–V)—begins on the dominant. 
• Andrew Chung

  November 2016 @Andrew_ChungSend Andrew_Chung a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Would second Brent on Chopin as a great source. Was looking through the waltzes myself: the Grand Valse Brilliante, and also op. 70 no. 1 come to mind.
• Mike Rogers

  November 2016 @MRogersSend MRogers a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Beethoven's first Symphony comes to mind . . .
• Jonathan Dunsby

  November 2016 @jdunsbySend jdunsby a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  A classic case--the whole piece makes a great teaching example--is Brahms, Op. 76, No. 4.

  There are some examples that invite contemplation. What about the Chopin 2nd Ballade, op. 38, for example? Contextually, it ought to be understood as I, yet, unlike with the A minor Etude, I'm betting 99% of listeners professional or otherwise somehow process that opening as V... 

  Jonathan Dunsby

  Professor of Music Theory

  Eastman School of Music
• Carson Farley

  November 2016 @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz - I. Visions and Passions
• Andrew Aziz

  November 2016 @piano191Send piano191 a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  "Jupiter," Trio! 
• Yosef Goldenberg

  November 2016 @YosefGoldenbergSend YosefGoldenberg a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Mendelssohn Song without words 62,1

   
• George Ferencz

  November 2016 @GeorgeFerenczSend GeorgeFerencz a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  If you can stray from the common-practice repertoire: plenty of traditional fiddle tunes that do this; a good number of "vintage" concert-march strains (though perhaps more often the second strain, as with Sousa's "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine"), lots of polkas (including the venerable "Too Fat" polka), La Cumparsita; in "Songbook" pop there's Avalon plus numerous Gershwin songs, including My Cousin in Milwaukee (sort of), Rosalie, How Long Has This Been Going On?, Funny Face, Someone Believes In You, South Sea Isles, etc. Irving Berlin "I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now," too. If you include tunes that sorta start ii7-V7-I, there's GG's By Strauss, Porter's "I Get A Kick Out Of You," and oodles more. Plenty in the klezmer realm, too as well as "country-western" (past and present).
• Eric Knechtges

  November 2016 @Eric_KnechtgesSend Eric_Knechtges a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, the major-key theme

  The second theme to Beethoven's first piano sonata comes to mind, but that spins out into an awfully long phrase...
• Tim Cutler

  November 2016 @tcutlerSend tcutler a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Have a look at www.musictheoryexamples.com, Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 7. I've got sections on beginning with various dominant-function chords--about 30 examples in all.
• William Helmcke

  November 2016 @William_HelmckeSend William_Helmcke a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Perhaps the following diverse examples, which can be found on imslp.org, might be helpful.

  Josephine Lang, 6 Lieder, op. 25 no. 5

  Fanny Hensel, 6 Lieder, op. 1 no. 3

  John Philip Sousa, Semper Fidelis (for the bandos)
• David Neumeyer

  November 2016 @neumeyerSend neumeyer a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Here's more Scbubert for you: in D 365 (his first published set; 1821): ns 1, 4, 9, 10, 13, 15, 21, 25, 26, 30. In D 779 (published in 1825, but at least some of the dances date back quite a bit earlier): ns 9, 17, 33, in addition to n 19 that you mentioned. Many of these are Ländler and in Ab major, the key commonly used by Schubert and others as a "darker" fortepiano variant of the proper violin key of A major. Same with Eb and E, Db and D.
• Julian Hook

  November 2016 @juhookSend juhook a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  There's the first movement of the Brahms Horn Trio, and the fourth movement of the German Requiem.
• Devin Chaloux

  November 2016 @Devin ChalouxSend Devin Chaloux a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  MacDowell's "By a Meadow Brook" from the Woodland Sketches

   

   

  Devin Chaloux
  
  Indiana University
• John Snyder

  November 2016 @TheinredSend Theinred a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Since Mike Rogers mentioned beethovens First Symphony, which begins

  with a secondary dominant, I'll add his Promethius Overture, which begins

  with V4/2 of IV, and his "Pastorale" Sonata, op. 28, which begins with V7/IV.

  For a phrase beginning on V7, there is also the opening of the Trio of the

  Minuet in Mozart's Jupiter Symphony.
• Mark Anson-Cartwright

  November 2016 @musmacSend musmac a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Beethoven, F-sharp major Sonata, op. 78, second movement. Starts with an augmented sixth going to V. The modulation to IV later in the opening theme counterbalances the dominant-oriented beginning.
• 1 Like

  Gary Karpinski

  November 2016 @garykarpSend garykarp a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Thank you all so very much for your helpful suggestions. The pieces you've mentioned will serve as additional fodder for my teaching and writing for years to come!
• Mark Anson-Cartwright

  March 2018 @musmacSend musmac a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Gary, I just thought of the finale of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata, Opus 7. A bit late to share this, but a nice example nonetheless.

  -Mark

   
• Nicolas Meeùs

  March 2018 edited March 2018 @NicolasSend Nicolas a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  One additional piece that does not seem to have been mentioned so far is Brahms' Intermezzo op. 118 n. 1, which starts with what locally appears to be I^b7, with the additional complication that the local C major tonality later turns out not to be the main tonality. The piece is in A B A' form, with each 10-measure section starting on a dominant, section A on I^b7 in C major, B a long elaboration of V of A minor, and A' again starting as section A on I^b7 of C, but ending in A minor.

   

   
• Dimitar Ninov

  March 2018 @doftorataSend doftorata a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Gary,

  Themes beginning with a dominant chord:

  Chopin, Grande Valse in Eb, op. 18; Mazurka op. 7 No.1 in Bb; Mazurka op. 67 No. 2 in G minor; the prelude in A major that you mention, and perhaps other works...

  // Tchaikovsky, "Winter Morning" in D major/B minor, from Piano Album for Children (begins with A7-5 in second inversion, resolving into tonic D). Geographic names notwithstanding, this is a true dominant chord with a lowered fifth:

  V4/3 (b5)

  // Tchaikovsky, same album, "Farmer's Boy Plying on the Accordion" in Bb

  // If you count implied dominants on an upbeat, there must be numerous such beginnings, among which:
  
  Beethoven: son. 1 in f, beginning of movements 1 and 2; son. 10 in G, Andante; son. 22 in F, opening, etc.

  Best regards,

  Dimitar

   
• Gary Karpinski

  March 2018 @garykarpSend garykarp a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Thanks again to those adding to this discussion after such a long pause. All these excerpts are delightful!
• Sam Zerin

  March 2018 @samzerinSend samzerin a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  "Part of Your World" from Disney's "The Little Mermaid" is a fabulous example of this.  It basically floats around the dominant for the first couple verses, without any full cadence.  As I hear it, the opening tension isn't actually resolved until the very end of the song.
• Sam Zerin

  April 2018 @samzerinSend samzerin a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Just watched Prince of Egypt for the first time last night.  (Really!)

  The very opening theme begins with an arpeggiated dominant 7th chord, unaccompanied in the trumpets: