modulation, in music, the change from one key to another and the process by which this change is brought about. Modulation is a fundamental resource for variety in tonal music, particularly in larger forms. A short piece such as a song, hymn, or dance may remain in a single key. Longer pieces almost invariably will modulate at least twice—away from the main key for variety, and back again for unity.
A modulation in a short piece is usually a transition to a closely related key. In a longer piece, such as a sonata movement, modulation from the home key to the dominant key (for instance, from C major to G major)—or to the relative major key (for instance, A minor to C major)—is an essential part of the exposition section; the development section that follows may modulate to new keys several times in succession, returning to the home key for the recapitulation. The first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major (1804; Eroica) modulates perhaps 20 times from the beginning of the movement before returning to E-flat major at the beginning of the recapitulation; through all these modulations, the key signature remains unchanged with three flats, and all the new notes of the subsequent keys are indicated with accidental signs. In contrary fashion, Beethoven’s Two Preludes Through all Major Keys for piano or organ, op. 39 (1789), have several passages where the key signature changes in nearly every measure.
A simple modulation to a related key involves a pivot chord, a harmony common to both keys. The new key is confirmed with a cadence (a progression signifying the end of a phrase) incorporating the dominant harmony of the new key. A modulation to a distantly related key may be relatively smooth (e.g., when the pivot chord is used in a deceptive cadence), or it may be abrupt (e.g., when there is no perceived pivot chord). A chain of transitory modulations without a stable cadence in a new key is a common constituent of the development section of a sonata. Continuous chromatic modulation for long stretches of musical time, with cadences constantly postponed, is characteristic of the increasingly complex harmonic idioms of the late 19th century, beginning with the German composer Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde (1857–59).