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V7 Chord in C Major: An Authentic Cadence Example
The V7 chord in C Major, G7, progressing to the C major chord is an example of an authentic cadence (also called a perfect or full cadence). No wonder, then, that these three simultaneous moves:
- B moving up to C (7 – 1),
- D moving down to C (2 – 1), and
- F moving down to E (4 – 3),
combine to provide your brain with a feeling of “perfect” cadence.
The V7 chord also contains that most unstable of all intervals, the pitchfork-toting tritone. It’s the interval formed by the fourth and seventh notes of the scale.
As if that weren’t enough, the V7 chord subsumes the entire unstable diminished triad (VIIº)—scale degrees 7, 2, and 4.
All of this makes the V7 chord ...
- Highly unbalanced and dissonant, and at the same time
- Strongly focussed, directed at the tonic centre, the I chord
The V7 chord is the only chord in harmony capable of establishing tonality all by itself. It doesn’t even need the I chord (the tonic chord) to do it!