Can an imperfect (or half) cadence feel completely stable/finished?

Question

A while ago I wrote a quartet (or attempted to) which contained an imperfect cadence in a minor key, specifically i - V. The V chord is simply a triad with no seventh. In the context that I wrote it, it does not feel unstable or create the feeling of needing to resolve to the tonic. Though it naturally returns to the i chord afterward, it feels perfectly stable - in fact I use this cadence as the finishing cadence. Were I to describe the kind of 'aesthetic' qualities it has, I'd say "grand", "heroic" or "momentous" though I realise that this is subjective and dependent on context too.

Here's a screenshot of the cadence from my quartet. The key is A minor and the final chord of that phrase is E major. Although not in the screenshot, the following chord would be A minor.

Another example of this is in the piece of music Death of Walter from the video game Fable III.

YT link:

The cadence occurs at roughly 0:40 and again at 1:31. If this version hasn't been transposed then the key is B minor and chord V is F# major.

So my question I suppose is: is this simply considered an imperfect cadence or is it a different type of imperfect cadence? I've looked into it a little but could not find anything regarding one that doesn't feel a need to be resolved. Generally descriptions of imperfect cadences give that as their defining quality. Although I'm maybe making a big deal of this, this isn't to say it's an uncommon sound to hear in music - it sounds quite natural and intuitive. I suppose one thing I should note is that perhaps it's kind of subjective; compared to me you may find it to feel less stable than I've described. I've not looked into it so I don't know if what I'm describing could be replicated in a major key. I'm just making guesses but the raised seventh degree in a minor scale to create the major V chord may play a role.

Answer 1

I will look up a proper source for this (away from my counterpoint books at present!) but I seem to recall it was common to use endings that sound like this in 16th Century counterpoint.

Imagine you were writing in E Phrygian (all "white keys" with the final cadence on E). One way of managing a cadence in this mode which lacks a perfect fifth in its dominant [V] was to cadence through iv to I.

So your work could be laid out like so...

[E phrygian] ..... counterpoint .... iv...I

It is easily mistaken for a half-cadence in A minor but actually was a legitimate ending to a piece in the Phrygian mode.

This is not your exact situation, as you stated you are deliberately writing in A minor, but there is at least some precedent for ending with this sonority.

Again, I will add a proper citation when I find it!

Answer 2

Somewhat in the ear of the beholder. It's going to be subjective, but there's no reason why finishing on a V in a minor key won't sound like an end cadence - to some - if not many. We're all used to the end harmony being a major one, heck, even pieces in minor keys quite often finish on a major (Tierce de Picardie).

I guess the 'purpose' of an imperfect cadence is to keep the listener hanging on, expecting there to be more to follow, but if it doesn't, well, at least things have finished on a satisfying V chord in the diatonic key! It's your piece, and you can do whatever you like. Haydn's Surprise symphony was unconventional, but it worked, and is renowned even today!

Answer 3

It's still considered an imperfect (half) cadence. The greater or lesser sense of stability at the cadence point does not change the analysis or the name of the cadence. In the case of this piece, it's especially true, since the piece continues by immediately stating the chord of resolution.

A similar effect can sometimes be found between movements in Baroque music. For example, the Largo of Corelli's C Minor Concerto Grosso (Op. 6, No. 3) ends on an imperfect cadence. If one listens only to the bars immediately preceding the cadence, it's sounds perfectly stable, though in the larger context, it's clearly an imperfect cadence.

YouTube, timed to bars immediately before cadence

Same video, started a bit earlier

Answer 4

This kind of cadence was called a "plagal" cadence (versus an "authentic" cadence) in old (19c and early 20c) harmony books and it was very common in the 16th century and still used in the 17th century. Beware however that the progression in modern harmony terms is not I-V, but IV-I. Modern harmony and counterpoint books put this cadences in the context of modes, and classify these cadences as standard endings in the mixolydian mode and the phrygian mode, often added as a "flosculus" ("litte flower") after a different cadence, eg. the chord progression F76 E AM E.

For famous examples, see, e.g., all endings in the Missa Papae Marcelli (Palestrina), all endings in the Missa Quarti toni (Victoria), or (perhaps the best known example) Aus tiefer Noth (Le Maistre). And for a particular weird example of a phrygian (mode IV) piece ending on a E minor(!) *) chord, see Mille regretz (ascribed in some sources to Josquin). The most bombastic example, however, known to me is the ending of Virgo prudentissima (Isaak), where the notes C and G alternate many times on the text "ut sol" ("like the sun") as a solmization: The effect is overwhelming (which, admittedly, was the precise purpose of the piece).

Whether this is still applicable to a piece utilizing late romantic harmony is a different question, though. To my ears (more used to renaissacne counterpoint than to romantic music), it sounds pretty natural.

*) One might argue that the final third in the cantus could be altered by musica ficta to g#, but this is in contradiction to all extant lute intabulations of the piece, which undeniably end with a minor chord.