deceptive cadence

American  

noun

Music.

1. a cadence consisting of a dominant harmony followed by a resolution to a harmony other than the tonic.

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Example Sentences

Ralph’s accompaniment is as spare as a prison cell: A lone piano, sounding naked notes with the occasional deceptive cadence.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2016

The latter is a superb song of unusual fire, with a strong effect at the end, the voice ceasing at a deceptive cadence, while the accompani369ment sweeps on to its destiny in the original key.

From Contemporary American Composers Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and Compositions by Hughes, Rupert