The A??C?E Complex: The Origin and Function of Chromatic Major Third Collections in Nineteenth-Century Music

The A♭-C-E major-third constellation stands as a prototype for nineteenth-century composers' expressive and structural uses of chromatic major-third relations. After tracing the origins of the collection, this article presents a conglomeration of hierarchic and transformational analytic approachesto A♭-C-E music by central European composers to demonstrate that recognition of the complex comprises a valuable added dimension to our structural and phenomenological hearings of romantic-era music.