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The whole issue with music analysis. . .

. . . is that, often, one can't be 100% certain that a given analysis is even correct, especially the further one goes into the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The famous example of this is Wagner's "Tristan Chord" (highlighted below - from the Wikipedia article), which in itself does not form an actual chord (at least in terms of traditional structural harmony): what we hear as the "Tristan Chord" is actually a standard pre-dominant augmented sixth chord (the augmented sixth being the interval from the F-natural to the D-sharp), but with an appoggiatura (the G-sharp) which resolves to the actual chord tone at the very end of the bar - the A-natural - which passes by quickly (almost as if it were a passing tone rather than the actual chord tone!). (BTW, I don't agree with the part of the Wikipedia article that calls the G-sharp a suspension. If the G-sharp is a suspension, what's it suspended from?) It's the same with the following "chord" at the start of the third measure: the A-sharp. which seems to be part of the "chord", is just another appoggiatura, and the following B-natural is the resolution to the actual chord tone. That second chord thus becomes a familiar E7 chord, implying that the key is A-minor, although Wagner does not allow us to hear a resolution at this point. The "Tristan Chord" deceived many listeners, because it's held for so long that they thought it was an actual chord, rather than part of a chord, with that little eighth-note that follows being the actual component of it.

BTW, I apologize - I realize I'm not telling you anything you probably don't already know, but I wanted to make the point that harmonic analysis is not a cut and dried methodology by any means, and is often subject to different points of view (and arguments!).


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