Index

  I have just posted An Accumulated Index of Essays Published on Texas ScholarWorks. Link.

Abstract:

Here are lists of all my publications on the Texas ScholarWorks platform. The main topic areas covered are documentation and history of ascending and upper-register cadence gestures, similarly for the dominant ninth chord, form functions (after Caplin) for dance music, especially menuets of Mozart and his contemporaries, and linear analysis including Schenker. The file also includes repertoire lists.

blog update

 For an index to all the essays I've posted to Texas ScholarWorks, go to a more recent post: 17 July 2026.

OR go either to TSW's main page: link to Texas ScholarWorks, then to the front page of the UT Faculty/Researcher Works section: link.

OR go directly to the front page of the UT Faculty/Researcher Works section: link. 

Scroll down and click on "Search"

Then click on Filters/Author, and my name will come up as one of the most frequent contributors. 

OR you can search UT Faculty/Researcher Works by department (see at the right of the first graphic above), where all but 4-5 entries are mine.

blog update

For updated information, see the posts for 17 July 2026 and 28 June 2026, which give information and links for a comprehensive index and search methods, respectively.

------

A point of interest here on 13 April is I have gathered posts completing my "treatises and textbooks" series and published all in the series in essay form: link to the essay.

New publication on Texas ScholarWorks

Over the past few years, I have made quite a few posts on the history of the dominant major-ninth chord in treatises and textbooks. I have now gathered those posts into a single PDF essay and have provided a small amount of additional material. You can find the PDF here: link.

-------------

I have published an updated index to this blog and to essays about scale degree ^6 and the dominant ninth chord on the Texas ScholarWorks platform. Here is the link. The date for this was November 5, 2024. I have made several posts since then; please see individual blog entries for those.

For a list of all the essays I've posted to Texas ScholarWorks, go to the front page of the UT Faculty/Researcher Works section: link. If you click on Filters/Author, my name will come up as one of the most frequent contributors.

Blog update February 2026

 For a two-paragraph historical narrative of the dominant ninth chord in European and European-influenced music, see this post: link.

[updated information 27 August 2026: see the posts for 17 July 2026 and 28 June 2026, which give information and links for a comprehensive index and search methods, respectively.]

On 18 December 2024, I published the fourth and last part in my most recent series: Dominant Ninth Harmonies in Music from 1900 to 1925, Part 4. Here is the link.

In the final sentences of the two-paragraph historical narrative, I wrote that "already by 1920 the dominant major-ninth sound was considered passé by younger concert composers and was often actively avoided." Two posts on 5 December 2025 explored this idea with music by Paul Creston, William Schuman, and Robert Muczynski. In general I rely on music in the public domain and on what is legally offered online, and thus it is difficult for me to survey work after 1930, the current copyright barrier year in the United States. I visited a local research library for access to these pieces and made my presentations according to fair use practices.

Blog update November 2025

 For a one-paragraph historical narrative of the dominant ninth chord in European and European-influenced music, see this post: link.

[Update 27 August 2026: see the posts for 17 July 2026 and 28 June 2026, which give information and links for a comprehensive index and search methods, respectively.]

On 18 December 2024, I published the fourth and last part in my most recent series: Dominant Ninth Harmonies in Music from 1900 to 1925, Part 4. Here is the link.

Blog updates

18 December 2024: I have published the fourth and last part in the most recent series: Dominant Ninth Harmonies in Music from 1900 to 1925, Part 4. Here is the link.

[Updated information 27 August 2026: see the posts for 17 July 2026 and 28 June 2026, which give information and links for a comprehensive index and search methods, respectively.]

Rise and fall of the dominant ninth chord

A one-paragraph historical narrative: 

The dominant major-ninth chord ("V9" or just "dominant ninth") gradually became a significant stylistic element in European and European-influenced music over the course of the nineteenth century. Early on it appeared in dance-based and song genres—notably, Schubert’s—in connection with expressive treatments of scale degree ^6. On the musical stage it remained restricted to pastoral and dance-based numbers in Singspiele and vaudevilles. By the 1850s it had reached larger-scale comic and dramatic works, becoming especially associated with both climactic and pastoral moments in Wagnerian opera. Thereafter the dominant ninth was firmly established in the two major practices of drama and dance—exemplified by Wagner and Johann Strauss, jr., respectively. By 1890—and through the first half of the 20th century—it could be found in a majority of music, including some concert music, but especially operettas, musicals, salon or recital pieces, and commercial song repertoires. Before the end of the 19th century also, the dominant major-ninth chord had established itself as one of the characteristic sounds of contemporary or Impressionist concert music, in part because of its close relation to the whole-tone scale (four notes out of five). Although that style did persist into the 1930s, already by 1920 the dominant major-ninth sound was considered passé by younger concert composers and was often actively avoided.      (text edited 2024-09-23; 2025-01-05; 2025-08-14; 2025-10-07; 2025-11-19)

NB: This narrative covers only the dominant major-ninth; the history of the dominant minor-ninth chord is distinct.

----

Find here an updated index of essays published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform, with abstracts and links: --> link. Essays on the dominant ninth are in §2, beginning on p. 10. Within this blog, of course, the search function can be used to locate specific names, titles, etc., and post titles can be browsed in the sidebar. -- 18 December 2024: I have published the fourth and last part in the most recent series: Dominant Ninth Harmonies in Music from 1900 to 1925, Part 4. Here is the link.

Updated Index to Essays

"Essays published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform, 2012-2022" updates earlier indices for all topic areas I have explored over the past decade. Here is the link.  Entries for each essay include title, abstract, and link.

Here is the abstract:

This is a list of essays I have published on this platform in the past decade. Topics include documentation of ascending and upper-register cadence gestures in European and European-influenced musics, studies of the major dominant ninth chord, and formal functions (after Caplin) in music by Mozart and his contemporaries.

An author search on the platform's home page will give two "David Neumeyer"s--they're both me:link 1 to 62 entries; link 2 to 23 entries.

Here are three other blogs I have written and maintained over the years: Ascending Cadence Gestures in Tonal Music; Dance and Dance Music, 1650-1850; Hearing Schubert D779n13.