Editing Picardy third (section)

==History==
===Name===
The term was first used in 1768 by [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], although the practice was used in music centuries earlier.<ref>Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ''Dictionnaire De Musique'' (Amsterdam: M. M. Rey, 1768), p.320. https://www.loc.gov/resource/muspre1800.101611/?sp=428.</ref><ref>Don Michael Randel (ed.), ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music (4th ed.)'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press, 2003), p.&nbsp;660. {{ISBN|0-674-01163-5}}.</ref> Rousseau argues that “the [practice] remained longer in Church Music, and, consequently, in Picardy, where there is music in a lot of cathedrals and churches,” and “the term is used jokingly by musicians”, suggesting it might have never had an academic basis, a tangible origin, and might have sprung out of idiomatic jokes in France in the first half of the 18th century.
 
Robert Hall hypothesizes that, instead of deriving from the [[Picardy|Picardy region of France]], it comes from the Old French word "picart", meaning "pointed" or "sharp" in northern dialects, and thus refers to the musical sharp that transforms the minor third of the chord into a major third.<ref>Robert A. Hall, Jr., "How Picard was the Picardy Third?", ''Current Musicology'' 19 (1975): pp.&nbsp;78–80.</ref>

The few Old French dictionaries in which the word ''picart'' (fem. ''picarde'') appears give “''aigu'', ''piquant''” as a definition. While ''piquant'' is quite straightforward—meaning spiky, pointy, sharp—''aigu'' is much more ambiguous, because it has the inconvenience of having at least three meanings: “high-pitched/treble”, “sharp” as in a sharp blade, and “acute”. Considering the definitions also state the term can refer to a nail ("''clou''") (read masonry nail), a pike or a spit, it seems ''aigu'' might be there used to mean "pointy" / “sharp”. However, not “sharp” in the desired sense, the one relating to a raised pitch, but in the sense of a sharp blade, which would thus completely discredit the word ''picart'' as the origin for the Picardy third, which also seems unlikely considering the possibility that ''aigu'' was also used to refer to a high(er)-pitched note, and a treble sound, thus perfectly explaining the use of the word ''picarde'' to designate a chord whose third is higher than it should be.{{Original research inline|date=August 2022}}

Not to be ignored is the existence of the proverb "''ressembler le Picard''"<ref>{{Cite book|last=La Curne de Sainte-Palaye|first=J.B.|title=Dictionnaire historique de l'ancien langage françois ou glossaire de l'ancien langage françois depuis son origine jusqu'au siècle de Louis XIV|publisher=Glossarium de Du Cange|year=1882|isbn=|location=|pages=}}</ref> ("to resemble an inhabitant of Picard") which meant “''éviter le danger''” (to avoid danger). This would link back to the humorous character of the term, that would have thus been used to mock supposedly cowardly composers who used the Picardy third as a way to avoid the gravity of the minor third, and perhaps the backlash they would have faced from the academic elite and the Church by going against the time’s scholasticism.{{Original research inline|date=August 2022}}

Ultimately, the origin of the name "tierce picarde" will likely never be known for sure, but what evidence there is seems to point towards these idiomatic jokes and proverbs as well as the literal meaning of ''picarde'' as high-pitched and treble.{{Original research inline|date=August 2022}}

===Use===
In [[medieval music]], such as that of [[Machaut]], neither major nor minor thirds were considered stable intervals, and so cadences were typically on open [[perfect fifth|fifth]]s. As a harmonic device, the Picardy third originated in Western music in the Renaissance era. By the early seventeenth century, its use had become established in practice in music that was both sacred (as in the Schütz example above) and secular:
[[File:Byrd Pavane 'The Earl of Salisbury', 1612 01.wav|233px|thumb|William Byrd, Pavane "The Earl of Salisbury", 1612]]
[[File:Byrd Pavane 'The Earl of Salisbury', 1612 02.png|thumb|center|500px|[[William Byrd]], Pavane "The Earl of Salisbury", 1612 02]]
Examples of the Picardy third can be found throughout the works of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]] and his contemporaries, as well as earlier composers such as [[Thoinot Arbeau]] and [[John Blow]]. Many of Bach's minor key chorales end with a cadence featuring a final chord in the major:
[[File:J.S.Bach, Jesu meine Freude, BWV817, mm.12-13.wav|233px|thumb|J. S. Bach, ''Jesu meine Freude'', BWV 81.7, mm. 12–13]]
[[File:Picardy third Bach - BWV 81.7, mm. 12-13.png|thumb|center|300px|Picardy third, in blue, in Bach: ''[[Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227|Jesu, meine Freude]]'' (Jesus, My Joy), BWV 81.7, mm. 12–13.<ref>Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker, ''Music in Theory and Practice: Volume II'', eighth edition (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2009), p.&nbsp;74. {{ISBN|978-0-07-310188-0}}.</ref>]]

In his book ''Music and Sentiment'', [[Charles Rosen]] shows how Bach makes use of the fluctuations between minor and major to convey feeling in his music. Rosen singles out the Allemande from the keyboard [[Partitas for keyboard (Bach)|Partita No. 1 in B-flat, BWV 825]], to exemplify "the range of expression then possible, the subtle variety of inflections of sentiment contained with a well-defined framework". The following passage from the first half of the piece starts in F major, but then, in bar 15, "Turning to the minor mode with a chromatic bass and then back to the major for the cadence adds still new intensity."<ref>[[Charles Rosen]], ''Music and Sentiment'' (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), p.&nbsp;45.</ref>
[[File:Bach Allemande from Partita 1, bars 13-18.wav|233px|thumb|Bach, Allemande from Partita 1, bars 13–18]]
[[File:Bach Allemande from Partita 1, bars 13-18.png|thumb|center|500px|Bach Allemande from Partita 1, bars 13–18]]

Many passages in Bach's religious works follow a similar expressive trajectory involving major and minor keys that may sometimes take on a symbolic significance. For example, David Humphreys (1983, p.&nbsp;23) sees the "languishing chromatic inflections, syncopations and appoggiaturas" of the following episode from the St Anne Prelude for organ, [[BWV 552]] from ''[[Clavier-Übung III]]'' as "showing Christ in his human aspect. Moreover the poignant angularity of the melody, and in particular the sudden turn to the minor, are obvious expressions of pathos, introduced as a portrayal of his Passion and crucifixion":<ref>Humphreys, D. (1983). ''The Esoteric structure of Bach's Clavierübung III'', p.&nbsp;25. University of Cardiff Press.</ref>
[[File:From Bach "St Anne" Prelude for Organ, BWV552, bars 118-130.wav|thumb|233px|From Bach "St Anne" Prelude for Organ, BWV 552, bars 118–130]]
[[File:From Bach "St Anne" Prelude for Organ, BWV552, bars 118-130.png|thumb|center|500px|From Bach "St Anne" Prelude for Organ, BWV 552, bars 118–130]]

Notably, Bach's two books of ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]'', composed in 1722 and 1744 respectively, differ considerably in their application of Picardy thirds, which occur unambiguously at the end of all of the minor-mode preludes and all but one of the minor-mode fugues in the first book.<ref>Butler, H. Joseph. "[http://www.thediapason.com/sites/thediapason.com/files/webDiap0811p19-21.pdf Emulation and Inspiration: J. S. Bach's Transcriptions from Vivaldi's ''L'estro armonico''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151129032700/http://www.thediapason.com/sites/thediapason.com/files/webDiap0811p19-21.pdf |date=2015-11-29 }}" (2011), p. 21.</ref> In the second book, however, fourteen of the minor-mode movements end on a minor chord, or occasionally, on a unison.<ref>''Oxford Companion to Music'', tenth edition, edited by Percy A. Scholes and John Owen Ward (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1970).{{Full citation needed|date=October 2017}}<!--Which article is this found in ("Tierce de Picardie", "Johann Sebastian Bach", or some other? Is the article signed? Who is the editor?--></ref> Manuscripts vary in many of these cases.

While the device was used less frequently during the [[Classical music era|Classical era]], examples can be found in works by [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], such as the slow movement of Mozart's [[Piano Concerto No. 21 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto 21]], K. 467:
[[File:Mozart, Piano Concerto 21, K467, slow movement, bars 83-93.wav|233px|thumb|Mozart, Piano Concerto 21, K. 467, slow movement, bars 83–93]]
[[File:Mozart, Piano Concerto 21, K467, slow movement, bars 83-94.png|thumb|center|600px|Mozart, Piano Concerto 21, K467, slow movement, bars 83–94]]

Philip Radcliffe says that the dissonant harmonies here "have a vivid foretaste of Schumann and the way they gently melt into the major key is equally prophetic of Schubert".<ref>Radcliffe, P. (1978). ''Mozart Piano Concertos'', p.&nbsp;52. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.</ref> At the end of his opera ''[[Don Giovanni]]'', Mozart uses the switch from minor to major to considerable dramatic effect: "As the Don disappears, screaming in agony, the orchestra settles in on a chord of D major. The change of mode offers no consolation, though: it is more like the tierce de Picardie, the 'Picardy third' (a famous misnomer derived from ''tierce picarte'', 'sharp third'), the major chord that was used to end solemn organ preludes and toccatas in the minor keys in days of old."<ref>[[Richard Taruskin|Taruskin, R.]] (2010). ''The Oxford History of Western Music: Music in the seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries'', p.&nbsp;494. Oxford University Press.</ref>

The fierce C minor drama that pervades the ''Allegro con brio ed appassionato'' movement from [[Beethoven]]'s last [[Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)|Piano Sonata]], Op.&nbsp;111, dissipates as the prevailing tonality turns to the major in its closing bars "in conjunction with a concluding diminuendo to end the movement, somewhat unexpectedly, on a note of alleviation or relief".<ref>Taruskin, R. (2010). ''The Oxford History of Western Music: Music in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'', p.&nbsp;730. Oxford University Press.</ref>
[[File:Beethoven, Piano Sonata, Op 111, first movement concluding bars.wav|233px|thumb|Beethoven, Piano Sonata, Op. 111, first movement concluding bars]]
[[File:Beethoven, Piano Sonata, Op 112, first movement concluding bars.png|thumb|center|500px|Beethoven, Piano Sonata, Op. 111, first movement concluding bars]]

The switch from minor to major was a device used frequently and to great expressive effect by [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] in both his songs and instrumental works. In his book on the song cycle ''[[Winterreise]]'', singer [[Ian Bostridge]] speaks of the "quintessentially Schubertian effect in the final verse" of the opening song "Gute Nacht", "as the key shifts magically from minor to major".<ref>[[Ian Bostridge]] (2015). ''Schubert's Winter Journey'', p.&nbsp;7 London: Faber and Faber.</ref>
[[File:Schubert, "Gute Nacht", piano link to final verse.wav|233px|thumb|Schubert, "Gute Nacht", piano link to final verse]]
[[File:Schubert, "Gute Nacht", piano link to the final verse, where the key changes from minor to major.png|thumb|center|500px|Schubert, "Gute Nacht", piano link to the final verse]]
Susan Wollenberg describes how the first movement of Schubert's [[Fantasia in F minor for piano four-hands]], D 940, "ends in an extended Tierce de Picardie".<ref>Wollenberg, S. (2011). ''Schubert's Fingerprints: Studies in the Instrumental Works'', p.&nbsp;42. London, Routledge.</ref> The subtle change from minor to major occurs in the bass at the beginning of bar 103:
[[File:Schubert Fantasia in F minor bars 98-106.wav|233px|thumb|Schubert Fantasia in F minor bars 98–106]]
[[File:Schubert Fantasia in F minor bars 98-106.png|thumb|center|500px|Schubert Fantasia in F minor bars 98–106]]

In the [[Romantic music|Romantic]] era, those of Chopin's [[nocturne]]s that are in a minor key almost always end with a Picardy third.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}} A notable structural employment of this device occurs with the finale of the [[Symphony No. 5 (Tchaikovsky)|Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony]], where the motto theme makes its first appearance in the major mode.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}