Enharmonicism and the Omnibus Progression in Classical-Era Music

Abstract

The music of Haydn and Mozart occasionally contains chromatic progressions that dramatically exceed the usual limits of classical tonality. This paper traces the development of one particular formula, called the omnibus, from early Baroque models to its various eighteenth-century forms, and in so doing, leads to a deeper understanding of the emotional impact and rhetorical weight this progression evoked, sheds light on the issue of eighteenth-century enharmonicism in one of its most potent forms, and links these progressions to the more idiosyncratic enharmonicism of the nineteenth century.