Function (music)

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In music, function (also harmonic function or tonal function) denotes the relationship of a chord or scale degree to a tonal centre. Two main theories of tonal functions exist today: The German theory created by Hugo Riemann in his Vereinfachte Harmonielehre of 1893, which soon became an international success (English and Russian translations in 1896, French translation in 1899), and which is the theory of functions properly speaking. Riemann identified three abstract tonal "functions"—tonic, dominant and subdominant—denoted by the letters T, D, and S, respectively, each of which could take on a more or less modified appearance in any chord of the scale. This theory, in several revised forms, remains much in use for the pedagogy of harmony and analysis in German-speaking countries and in Northern and Eastern European countries. The Viennese theory, characterized by the use of Roman numerals to denote the chords of the tonal scale, as developed by Simon Sechter, Arnold Schoenberg, Heinrich...

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