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This is an except from Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 by Liszt from John Thompson's Grade 3:

What is the name of the chord (G,Db,F) and its harmonic function in the bass clef of the second bar?

EDIT:

More context: enter image description here

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Can you clarify why you're asking? (Why does it need to have a name?) – Matthew Read♦ May 23 '12 at 15:00
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Can you give a larger example. Knowing how the chord resolves will help explain it's function. – Reina Abolofia May 23 '12 at 15:46
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@MatthewRead Asking for the name and/or function of a sonority would seem to me to be a valid, answerable "theory" question. "I'm curious" would seem sufficient justification for asking. – Andrew May 23 '12 at 21:09
@Andrew Not really, we don't want one question for every conceivable set of notes. A better question would be about how to identify chords, so the poster actually learns something useful. – Matthew Read♦ May 23 '12 at 22:28
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I too like to analyze and add chords, as this helps me read and to some extent interpret the music. – Ulf Åkerstedt Jun 2 '12 at 16:12
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1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

It's a Gm7(b5).
Note that the Bb of the right hand/melody is also part of the chord - there's no need to double it in the left hand.

This chord might be the IIm7b5 of a IIm7b5-V7-Im cadence in Fm, where the Gm7(b5) would lead you to a C or C7 and after that an Fm, all acting as a tonicization of Fm (from the original tonic which I presume is Cm). I.e. it's function would then be IIm7b5/IVm.
But it would be good to see the following bars to make a better judgement of it's function.

EDIT:
After seeing the following bars I totally agree with NReilingh's great comments. The tonic at the time is C (in some frygian mode) and the Gm7(b5) chord function could be described as Vm7(b5).

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You're overthinking it, I believe. This chord has dominant function in the key of C--there's just some mode mixture going on between the key signature of C minor and the tonic chord of C major. – NReilingh♦ May 24 '12 at 0:55
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... that is to say, I'd call this chord a Vø7. – NReilingh♦ May 24 '12 at 0:56
Phrygian! Ulf, it's spelled phrygian. – Ulf Åkerstedt Aug 9 '12 at 17:51

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