Ninth chord

File:Ninth chord resolution examples given by Schoenberg.png

Resolutions given as examples by Arnold Schoenberg in his Theory of Harmony: V⁹ chords resolving to I chords

In music theory, a ninth chord is a chord that encompasses the interval of a ninth when arranged in close position with the root in the bass.

Heinrich Schenker and also Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov allowed the substitution of the dominant seventh, leading-tone, and leading tone half-diminished seventh chords, but rejected the concept of a ninth chord on the basis that only that on the fifth scale degree (V⁹) was admitted and that inversion was not allowed of the ninth chord.

Dominant ninth chord

Dominant ninth

Component intervals from root
major ninth
minor seventh
perfect fifth
major third
root
Tuning
4:5:6:7:9
Forte no. / Complement
5-34 / 7-34

A dominant ninth chord is a dominant seventh chord plus a major ninth above the root. For instance, a C dominant ninth chord (C⁹) consists of the notes C–E–G–B♭–D.

<score sound="">{

\override Score.TimeSignature

1. 'stencil = ##f

   \relative c' {
       \time 4/4
       \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 20
       <c e g bes d>1
   }

}</score>

When the symbol "9" is not preceded by the word "major" or "maj" (e.g., C⁹), the chord is a dominant ninth. The ninth is commonly chromatically altered by half-step either up or down to create more tension and dissonance. Fétis tuned the chord 4:5:6:7:9.

In the common practice period, "the root, 3rd, 7th, and 9th are the most common factors present in the V⁹ chord," with the 5th, "typically omitted". The ninth and seventh usually resolve downward to the fifth and third of I.

Example of tonic dominant ninth chords include Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" and Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music". James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)" features a striking dominant 9th arpeggio played staccato at the end of the opening 12-bar sequence. The opening phrase of Chopin's well-known "Minute Waltz" climaxes on a dominant 9th chord:

File:Chopin Minute Waltz bars 1-10.wav

Chopin Waltz in D♭, Op. 64, No. 1

File:Chopin Minute Waltz opening.png

Chopin Waltz in D♭, Op. 64, No. 1

César Franck's Violin Sonata in A major opens with a dominant ninth chord (E⁹) in the piano part. When the violin enters in the fifth bar, its melody articulates an arpeggio of this chord.

File:Franck Violin Sonata first movement, bars 1-8.wav

Cesar Franck Violin Sonata in A major, opening bars

File:Franck Violin Sonata opening.png

Cesar Franck, Violin Sonata in A major, opening bars

Debussy's "Hommage a Rameau", the second of his first Book of Images for piano solo climaxes powerfully on a dominant ninth, expressed both as a chord and as a wide-ranging arpeggio:

File:Debussy, from Hommage a Rameau.wav

Debussy, from Hommage a Rameau

File:Hommage a Rameau (dominant 9th).png

Debussy, from Hommage a Rameau

The starting point of Karlheinz Stockhausen's piece for vocal sextet, Stimmung (1968) is a chord consisting of the notes B♭, F, B♭, D, A♭ and C. According to Nicholas Cook, Stimmung could, in terms of conventional tonal harmony, be viewed as "simply a dominant ninth chord that is subject to timbral variation. The notes the performers sing are harmonics 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 of the implied but absent fundamental—the B flat below the bass clef."

Dominant minor ninth chord

Dominant minor ninth

Component intervals from root
minor ninth
minor seventh
perfect fifth
major third
root
Tuning
8:10:12:14:17
Forte no. / Complement
5-31 / 7-31

A dominant minor ninth chord consists of a dominant seventh chord and a minor ninth above the root. For instance, a C dominant minor ninth chord (C^7♭9) consists of the notes C–E–G–B♭–D♭.

<score sound="">{

\override Score.TimeSignature

1. 'stencil = ##f

   \relative c' {
       \time 4/4
       \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 20
       <c e g bes des>1
   }

}</score> In notation for jazz and popular music, this chord is often denoted, e.g., C^7♭9.

Fétis tuned the chord 8:10:12:14:17.

In Schubert's Erlkönig, a terrified child calls out to his father when he sees an apparition of the sinister Elf King. The dissonant voicing of the dominant minor ninth chord used here (C^7♭9) is particularly effective in heightening the drama and sense of threat.

<score sound="1">

<<
 \new ChordNames \chordmode {s2 s2 c1:7.9-}
 {\new Voice ="mel" {\key aes \major \time 4/4
   r2 r4 c des2 des4. des8 des c c4 }}
   \new Lyrics {\lyricsto "mel" {Mein Va -- ter, mein Va -- ter __}}
\new GrandStaff <<
 \new Staff {\key aes \major \time 4/4
   \tuplet 3/2 {r8 <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> \f <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>} \tuplet 3/2 {<c' c> <c' c> <c' c>}}
 \new Staff {\clef bass \key aes \major \time 4/4
   <aes,, aes,>4 r r <a, a>(<bes, bes>2) <g, g> <e, e>}

>> >> </score>

(Excerpt from Schubert's Erlkönig – Link to passage)

Writing about this passage, Taruskin (2010, p. 149) remarks on the Template:Quote

Minor ninth chord

Minor ninth

Component intervals from root
major ninth
minor seventh
perfect fifth
minor third
root
Tuning
20:24:30:36:45
Forte no. / Complement
5-27 / 7-27

The minor ninth chord consists of a minor seventh chord and a major ninth above the root. For instance, a C minor ninth chord (Cm⁹) consists of the notes C–E♭–G–B♭–D.

<score sound="">{

\override Score.TimeSignature

1. 'stencil = ##f

   \relative c' {
       \time 4/4
       \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 20
       <c es g bes d>1
   }

}</score> The formula is 1, ♭3, 5, ♭7, 9. This chord has a more "bluesy" sound and fits very well with the dominant ninth.

Major ninth chord

Major ninth

Component intervals from root
major ninth
major seventh
perfect fifth
major third
root
Tuning
8:10:12:15:18
Forte no. / Complement
5-27 / 7-27

File:Monk's Mood major ninth chord.png

Parallel root-position bop voicings that open the choruses of Thelonious Monk's 1959 "Monk's Mood" feature a (C) major ninth chord.File:Monk's Mood major ninth chord.mid

A major ninth chord (e.g., Cmaj⁹), as an extended chord, adds the major seventh along with the ninth to the major triad. For instance, a C major ninth chord (Cmaj⁹) consists of the notes C–E–G–B–D.

<score sound="">{

\override Score.TimeSignature

1. 'stencil = ##f

   \relative c' {
       \time 4/4
       \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 20
       <c e g b d>1
   }

}</score> Examples include Edvard Grieg's "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" and Ennio Morricone's "In una stanza con poca luce" from Once Upon a Time in the West.

Dominant seventh sharp ninth chord

Dominant seventh sharp ninth chord

Component intervals from root
augmented ninth
minor seventh
perfect fifth
major third
root
Tuning
160:200:240:288:375
Forte no. / Complement
5-32 / 7-32

A dominant seventh sharp ninth chord is a dominant seventh chord plus an augmented ninth above the root. For instance, a C dominant seventh sharp ninth chord (C^7♯9) consists of the notes C–E–G–B♭–D♯.

<score sound="">{

\override Score.TimeSignature

1. 'stencil = ##f

   \relative c' {
       \time 4/4
       \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 20
       <c e g bes dis>1
   }

}</score>

Relation to other chords with the ninth

File:Minor 6-9 chord on C.png

Minor 6/9 C chord, featuring the major sixth degree of the jazz minor scale.

File:Ninth of an added ninth chord on C.png

Second factor (D), in red, of a C added second chord, C^add2.

The 6/9 chord is a pentad with a major triad joined by a sixth and ninth above the root, but no seventh. For example, C^6/9 is C–E–G–A–D. It is not a tense chord requiring resolution, and is considered a substitute for the tonic in jazz. The minor 6/9 chord is a minor triad with an added 6th and 9th, evoking the Dorian mode, and is also suitable as a minor tonic in jazz.

The second degree is octave equivalent to the ninth. The ninth chord could be alternatively notated as seventh added second chord (C^7add2), from where omitting the 3rd produces the seventh suspended second chord (C^7sus2).

An add9 chord, or added ninth chord, is any chord with an added ninth – C^add9 consists of C, E, G and D, Cm^add9 consists of C, E flat, G, and D, Cdim^add9 consists of C, E flat, G flat, and D, etc. Added ninth chords differ from other ninth chords because the seventh is not necessarily included. An add9 can also be added to an interval, like a C5, resulting in a C5^add9 chord which consists of C and G (C5) with D as an added 9 (C, G, D). Note that if the note is within an octave from the root, it is a second, not a ninth. In the case of C, D, G, within a fifth rather than spanning a ninth, this is a C^sus2 chord, where the second, D, replaces the third, E (C, D, G instead of C, E, G).

See also

• Jazz chord
• Dominant seventh sharp ninth chord