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I came across a lovely piece with the following chrod progression:

  • Body: D Dmaj7 G Em F#m G Em D
  • Ending: D D7 Bb C D D

From the body it looks like D major scale, but in the ending two chords from D minor scale are added before proceeding to the D major chord, like a picardy third, altohugh the piece is not in D minor.

My question is how does the ending work in theory? Like, why does D-D7-Bb sound smooth? Is it a picardy third? (also, how do we notate it by roman numbers?) Are there other examples using the same trick?

Thanks :)

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  • 1
    Poss. dupe for 'is there a name for this cadence?'
    – Tim
    Commented Jul 10, 2023 at 18:18
  • @Tim You are right! I just realized that and flagged it :)
    – EconomicsSucks
    Commented Jul 10, 2023 at 18:59

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It's modal interchange. Bb is bVI and C is bVII, both borrowed from D minor.

Maybe one could think of D7 as of V/iv and then bVI substituting iv?

See also: Is there a name for this cadence? (bVI bVII I)

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