The Historical Development And Evolution Of Traditional Harmony In 19th-early 20th Century Russian Music From The Perspective Of Chord Progression

In the late Romantic period,composers began to attempt to break free from the traditional rules of harmony in various ways,driven by their pursuit of novelty.One of the methods they used to explore this was to change the chord structures,which was particularly prominent in the works of Russian composers.This article focuses on representative works of Russian and Soviet composers who grew up in the cultural environment of Russia in the early 20 th century.It examines the path of the dissolution of modes,tonality,and even traditional harmony in Russian music from the perspective of altered chords.By analyzing the use of altered chords in the selected works of the composers from this period,the article seeks to clarify the various forms of altered chords in different periods,to gain insight into the evolution of harmony in Russian music from the 19 th century to the early 20 th century,and to explore the path of the expansion and dissolution of tonality through altered chords in Russian and Soviet music,revealing the influence of the development trend of altered chords on Russian music and even world music.This article focuses on the music of composers from the first half of the 19 th century,such as Glinka and Dargomyzhsky,the second half of the 19 th century,such as "The Mighty Handful" and Tchaikovsky,the turn of the century,such as Scriabin and Rachmaninoff,and composers who emerged after the October Revolution,such as Prokofiev,Khachaturian,and Shostakovich,whose works were based on the third degree structure.It analyzes the use of various altered chords,such as secondary dominant,secondary leading-tone,and augmented-sixth chords,as well as other chord alterations in their works.The study examines the composition,types of alterations,voice leading,and resolution of altered chords,in order to trace the development of secondary dominant and secondary leading-tone chords during this period.The main body of the thesis consists of four chapters: Chapter 1 provides an overview of Russian music from the 19 th to the early 20 th century;Chapter 2 defines the scope and classification of chord changes;Chapter 3 analyzes the chord changes in detail in the selected works of the composers and summarizes and compares the characteristics of chord changes during different periods;Chapter 4 explores the development of chord changes among Russian and Soviet composers,reviewing the development of subdominant and dominant chord changes and placing the evolution of chord changes in historical context to gain insight into the expansion of tonality in the works of Russian and Soviet composers and its impact on the development of world music.Rich altered chords are commonly used by Russian composers as a chord material.This article classifies and summarizes the application of altered chords in the works of Russian and Sovietcomposers,sorts out the forms of altered chords in different periods,aiming to find the breakthroughs of these composers influenced by the Russian cultural environment in the traditional harmony structure,and also provides some references for the expansion of tonality under the perspective of altered chords.