suspension

views updated May 14 2018

suspension. Opposite of anticipation: a note in a chord is held over (sounded slightly late) as a momentary discordant part of the combination which follows; it is then resolved by falling a degree to a note which forms a real part of the 2nd chord. When 2 notes are held over it is called a double suspension. In many 20th-cent. works suspensions are often left unresolved.