A secondary chord is an analytical label for a specific harmonic device that is prevalent in the tonal idiom of Western music beginning in the common practice period: the use of diatonic functions for tonicization.
Secondary chords are a type of altered or borrowed chord, chords that are not part of the music piece's key. They are the most common sort of altered chord in tonal music. Secondary chords are referred to by the function they have and the key or chord in which they function. Conventionally, they are written with the notation "function/key". Thus, the most common secondary chord, the dominant of the dominant, is written "V/V" and read as "five of five" or "the dominant of the dominant". The major or minor triad on any diatonic scale degree may have any secondary function applied to it; secondary functions may even be applied to diminished triads in some special circumstances.
Secondary chords were not used until the Baroque period and are found more frequently and freely in the Classical period, even more so in the Romantic period. Composers began to use them less frequently with the breakdown of conventional harmony in modern classical music—but secondary dominants are a cornerstone of popular music and jazz in the 20th century.
Secondary dominant
A secondary dominant (also applied dominant, artificial dominant, or borrowed dominant) is a major triad or dominant seventh chord built and set to resolve to a scale degree other than the tonic, with the dominant of the dominant (written as V/V or V of V) being the most frequently encountered. The chord that the secondary dominant is the dominant of is said to be a temporarily tonicized chord. The secondary dominant is normally, though not always, followed by the tonicized chord. Tonicizations that last longer than a phrase are generally regarded as modulations to a new key (or new tonic).
According to music theorists David Beach and Ryan C. McClelland, "[t]he purpose of the secondary dominant is to place emphasis on a chord within the diatonic progression." The secondary-dominant terminology is still usually applied even if the chord resolution is nonfunctional. For example, the V/ii label is still used even if the V/ii chord is not followed by ii.
Definition
The major scale contains seven basic chords, which are named with Roman numeral analysis in ascending order. Because tonic triads are either major or minor, one would not expect to find diminished chords (either the vii in major or the ii in minor) tonicized by a secondary dominant. It would also not make sense for the tonic of the key itself to be tonicized.
In the key of C major, the five remaining chords are:
Of these chords, the V chord (G major) is said to be the dominant of C major. However, each of the chords from ii to vi also has its own dominant. For example, V (G major) has a D major triad as its dominant. These extra dominant chords are not part of the key of C major as such because they include notes that are not part of the C major scale. Instead, they are secondary dominants.
The notation below shows the secondary-dominant chords for C major. Each chord is accompanied by its standard number in harmonic notation. In this notation, a secondary dominant is usually labeled with the formula "V of ..." (dominant chord of); thus "V of ii" stands for the dominant of the ii chord, "V of iii" for the dominant of iii, and so on. A shorter notation, used below, is "V/ii", "V/iii", etc.
Like most chords, secondary dominants may be seventh chords or chords with other upper extensions. Dominant seventh chords are commonly used as secondary dominants. The notation below shows the same secondary dominants as above but with dominant seventh chords.
Note that the triad V/IV is the same as the I triad. When a seventh is added (V7/IV), it becomes an altered chord because the seventh is not a diatonic pitch. Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 begins with a V7/IV chord:
According to the principles exposed above, in fact, V7/IV, which means the C7 chord, i.e. the dominant seventh chord on the F major scale (C–E–G–B♭), does not represent the tonic because it contains a B♭, which isn't included in the main key, as Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 is written in the key of C major. The chord then resolves on the natural IV (F major) and in the following bar the V7, i.e. G7 (dominant seventh chord on the C major key), is presented.
Chromatic mediants, for example VI is also a secondary dominant of ii (V/ii) and III is V/vi, are distinguished from secondary dominants with context and analysis revealing the distinction.