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Harmony

Final cadence

The final cadence is the concluding cadence of a movement or piece in the home key. It leads the music to its final point of rest and confirms once more the key in which the work began and ended.

Position
at the end of a piece or movement
Key
the home key
Usually
perfect authentic cadence
Often strengthened by
subdominant, six-four chord, coda
Counterpart
internal cadence (mid-piece close)

The last close

In a piece there are many cadences. Some end only a section, some rather open, like the half cadence. The final cadence is the last: it ends the movement in the home key. In tonal music it is mostly shaped as a perfect cadence, so as a sequence of dominant and tonic, often in root position with the root of the tonic in the melody.

Extended closing progression I – IV – I⁶₄ – V – I: right hand

4 4

After the subdominant comes the tonic with G in the bass, the six-four chord (chord 3, marked). It resolves into the dominant (chord 4, also marked): E falls to D, C to B, G stays. Then the final chord follows.

The bass to go with it

4 4

The bass stays on the G while the upper voices move from the six-four chord to the dominant, and then leaps a fourth up to C.

In the glossary: Perfect cadence · Six-four chord · Cadence

How it is strengthened

The final cadence is often strengthened by a preparation: a subdominant, a six-four chord or an extended closing progression in the coda. The six-four chord before the dominant slows the motion and draws attention to the close; only the resolution gives rest.

CIFIVC/GI 6/4GVCI

Internal cadence and open closes

In movements with several sections the final cadence differs from the internal cadence, which ends a section within a piece. The half cadence and the deceptive cadence keep the movement open on purpose. The final cadence forms the counter-pole here: it is the place where no expectation remains open.

In the solo concerto “cadence”, by contrast, usually means the improvised or written-out solo passage (the cadenza), not the harmonic close.

Practice: At the piano play first the simple closing progression G–C and then the extended sequence from the listening example. Notice how the six-four chord delays the ending and how the six-four chord resolves into the dominant and the tension only comes to rest in the final chord.

Continue on Maikstrings

Cadences

All closing formulas in major and minor with listening examples.

Diatonic chords

Tonic, subdominant and dominant in context.

Sight-reading

How to anticipate closing progressions when reading.

Related terms

Perfect cadenceCadenceFull close (authentic cadence)Six-four chordPlagal cadenceHalf cadenceDeceptive cadenceTonic

Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026

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