NEAPOLITAN CHORD

A Neapolitan chord is the major triad chord built on the lowered supertonic (lowered second scale degree) of the current key. This is illustrated in the next figure.

Figure: The Neapolitan chord in the C major key

Annotating Neapolitan chord

The harmony annotation for the Neapolitan chord in the root position is N. For the inversions, the figured bass is used. This is illustrated in the next figure. 

Figure: Annotating the Neapolitan chord

Neapolitan chord in the major and minor key

Since the supertonics of a major key and its parallel minor key are the same, the Neapolitan chord is also the same in the parallel major and minor keys, thus having the same note names and chords annotations. Also, the harmony annotations are the same. This is illustrated in the next figure. 

Figure: Examples of the Neapolitan chord in the C major key and its parallel C minor key

We see that if the current key is a minor one, the Neapolitan chord needs only one altered scale degree, the lowered second scale degree.  However, if the current key is a major one, the Neapolitan chord needs two altered scale degrees: the lowered second scale degree and the lowered sixth scale degree.  This is the reason why the Neapolitan chord appears more often in music written in minor keys. 

Neapolitan chord usage

The Neapolitan chord can sound quite remarkable. Most often, it resolves to a chord with the root on the dominant (fifth scale degree) and is used in its first inversion (N6). The sixth scale degree resolves down to the fifth scale degree. This is illustrated in the next figure. 

Figure: Resolving the Neapolitan chord in the C minor key

In the figure, we also see the melody and bass lines used often with this chord progression. In the bass, there is the fourth scale degree followed by the fifth and the first scale degree. In the melody, there is the lowered second scale degree followed by the raised seventh and the first scale degree. Thus, the melody circles around the tonic, at the distance of one half step. 

However, in all the examples in the following chapters, the Neapolitan chord appears in the root position. The reason is that in the Romantic period the Neapolitan chord started to appear in the other positions and all the examples are from this period. 

Chopin’s Prelude No. 20 in C minor 

As an example of the usage of the Neapolitan chord, we can examine the ending of Chopin’s Prelude No. 20 in C minor. The Neapolitan chord is used before the seventh chord on the dominant, which is then resolved on the tonic. Here, the Neapolitan chord occurs in the root position. 

Figure: The Neapolitan chord in Chopin's Prelude No. 20 in C minor

Tonicization of Neapolitan chord

In chapter Secondary chords, we saw the method of building a chord progression in a current key’s closely related key. Similarly, we can make a chord progression in the major key whose tonic is the same as the current key’s lowered supertonic.

As in the case of secondary chords, we consider this as a temporary change of the tonality and we do not annotate temporary changes of the key. A temporarily change of the tonality is called a tonicization. Thus, such a chord progression is called the tonicization of the Neapolitan chord. 

Chopin’s Mazurka Op. 7 No. 2 in A minor

As an example of a tonicization of the Neapolitan chord we can examine the beginning of Chopin’s Mazurka Op. 7 No. 2 in A minor. We can see the tonicization of the Neapolitan chord in the last two measures of this excerpt. Since the composition is in the A minor, the Neapolitan chord is the Bb major triad chord. In the Bb major key, the dominant seventh chord on V is the F dominant seventh chord. Thus, the F dominant seventh chord and the Bb major triad chord create the chord progression V7/N – N which is the tonicization of the Neapolitan chord.