By the numbers
How songs end: cadence statistics
Short answer
In the 1,049 art songs with a readable ending, 60.9% of major-key songs and 46.7% of minor-key songs end with a perfect authentic cadence, V→I with both chords in root position. The share falls steadily with the composer's birth year, from 78.4% for composers born before 1770 to 23.8% for those born in 1870 or later. Only 30 songs (2.9%) end on a V chord, the shape of a half cadence.
- 60.9%of 803 major-key songs end V→I in root position
- 78% → 24%perfect authentic endings, composers born before 1770 against after 1870
- 83%of songs end on the tonic chord (964 of 1,156)
Dataset: 1,156 OpenScore Lieder art songs with an automatic chord analysis (AugmentedNet v1.9.1, not checked by a person); the ending is read from the last two different chords of the last key section. Art songs, mostly 19th-century; not pop.
How the songs end
The perfect authentic ending (V→I, both chords in root position) is the single most common ending in both modes: 489 of major-key and 115 of minor-key songs. In major keys “some other chord → I” and the imperfect authentic type tie for second (88 songs each); in minor keys “some other chord → I” is second (44 songs).
A trend across composers' birth years
The perfect authentic ending is the norm for composers born before 1810 (78.4% and 72.7% of songs) and the exception for those born in 1870 or later (23.8%). The same groups use more seventh chords (27.0% up to 38.5% of chord segments) and more secondary chords (11.0% up to 31.1%).
Seventh chords and secondary (borrowed-key) chords become more common in the same groups where the plain V→I ending becomes less common; the cadential six-four becomes rarer.
| Composers | Songs | End V→I (PAC) | Chord segments with a seventh | Secondary chords | Cadential six-four |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composers born before 1770 | 51 | 78.4% | 27.0% | 11.0% | 1.78% |
| Born 1770–1809 | 151 | 72.7% | 31.0% | 18.1% | 0.75% |
| Born 1810–1839 | 402 | 65.5% | 34.0% | 22.4% | 0.43% |
| Born 1840–1869 | 430 | 50.0% | 37.1% | 25.6% | 0.32% |
| Born 1870 or later | 115 | 23.8% | 38.5% | 31.1% | 0.23% |
The last chord
964 of the 1,156 analysed songs (83.4%) finish on a tonic chord; 754 of them in major-key passages.
Share of the 1,049 songs with a readable ending. The labels are Roman numerals in the key of the last section.
| Final chord | Songs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| I (in a major key) | 754 | 71.9% |
| i (in a minor key) | 189 | 18.0% |
| I (in a minor key) | 19 | 1.8% |
| V (in a minor key) | 16 | 1.5% |
| V (in a major key) | 14 | 1.3% |
| vi (in a major key) | 12 | 1.1% |
Cadence shapes inside the songs
Inside songs, arrivals on V are the most frequent chord-pair type (13,355 in major-key passages), ahead of V→I in root position (6,126). Because the counts are of chord pairs and not of phrase endings, they show how often these shapes occur, not how many cadences there are.
Songs by how they end
A few real examples of each ending type, so the labels can be checked against a score.
Songs by how they end
Chosen by a fixed rule: composers with a page on this site first, then the composers best represented in the corpus, one song per composer. Endings are the software's reading.
Ends V→I in root position (PAC)
489 songs in the corpus end this way.
- An die Tauben Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)from 9 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.63last chords V → I (major)
- Abschied Franz Schubert (1797–1828)from Schwanengesang.D.957last chords V → I (major)
- Aubade-Habanera Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847–1903)from 20 Mélodieslast chords V → I (major)
- Allnächtlich im Traume Robert Schumann (1810–1856)from Dichterliebe, Op.48last chords V → I (major)
- Abermals am See Josephine Lang (1815–1880)from 6 Lieder, Op.12last chords V → I (major)
Ends IV→I (plagal)
53 songs in the corpus end this way.
- Abenddämmerung Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)from 5 Lieder, Op.49last chords IV → I (major)
- Ellens Gesang III (D.839, Ave Maria) Franz Schubert (1797–1828)from Op.52last chords IV → I (major)
- Dans les boutons d'or Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847–1903)from Paysages d'amourlast chords IV → I (major)
- Gondellied Johanna Kinkel (1810–1858)from 6 Gedichte, Op.8last chords IV → I (major)
Ends on a V chord (half-cadence shape)
30 songs in the corpus end this way.
- Agnes Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)from 8 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.59last chords ii° → V (minor)
- Der Jäger Franz Schubert (1797–1828)from Die schöne Müllerinlast chords i → V (minor)
- Auf einer Burg Robert Schumann (1810–1856)from Liederkreis, Op.39last chords i → V (minor)
- Turm und Flut Johanna Kinkel (1810–1858)from 6 Lieder, Op.19last chords i → V (minor)
Ends V→vi (deceptive shape)
4 songs in the corpus end this way.
- Rêverie Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847–1903)from 20 Mélodieslast chords V → VI/v (major)
- Traumdeutung Johanna Kinkel (1810–1858)from 6 Lieder, Op.10last chords V → vi (major)
- Ja Heil und Dank dir die den Segen brachte! Anton Webern (1883–1945)from 5 Lieder nach Gedichten von Stefan George, Op.4last chords V → VI/bvi (minor)
Hear the endings
The endings above in sound. Each pair of chords is played as plain triads.
Hear the endings
Pick a key, then play. Plain root-position triads synthesised in your browser (no recording).
- Perfect authentic (V → I)V – Iends 489 of 803 major-key songs
- Perfect authentic, minor key (V → i)V – iends 115 of 246 minor-key songs
- Plagal (IV → I)IV – Iends 53 major-key songs
- Ending on V (I → V)I – V30 songs in all end on a V chord
- Deceptive shape (V → vi)V – viends 4 songs in all
- Cadential six-four, then V → II⁶₄ – V – I412 cadential six-four chords are labelled in the corpus
The cadence types, defined
Excerpts from Wikipedia's article on cadences.
From Wikipedia
Cadence
Overview
In Western musical theory, a cadence is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards. A harmonic cadence is a progression of two or more chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music. A rhythmic cadence is a characteristic rhythmic pattern that indicates the end of a phrase. A cadence can be labeled "weak" or "strong" depending on the impression of finality it gives.
Perfect authentic cadence
In a perfect authentic cadence (PAC), the chords are in root position – that is, the roots of both chords are in the bass – and the tonic is in the highest voice of the final chord. This is generally considered the strongest type of cadence and often found at structurally defining moments. Music theorist William Caplin writes that the perfect authentic cadence "achieves complete harmonic and melodic closure."
Imperfect authentic cadence
There are three types of imperfect authentic cadences (IAC):
- Root position IAC (shown below): Similar to a perfect authentic cadence, but the highest voice is not the tonic.
- Inverted IAC: Similar to a perfect authentic cadence, but one or both chords are inverted.
- Leading-tone IAC: The penultimate (V) chord is replaced with a chord based on the leading-tone (viio chord).
Half cadence
A half cadence (also called an imperfect cadence or semicadence) is any cadence ending on V, whether preceded by II (V of V), ii, vi, IV, or I—or any other chord. Because it sounds incomplete or suspended, the half cadence is considered a weak cadence that calls for continuation.
Several types of half cadences are described below.
Plagal cadence
A plagal cadence is a cadence from IV to I. It is also known as the Amen cadence because of its frequent setting to the text "Amen" in hymns.
Deceptive cadence
Also known as an interrupted or false cadence, the deceptive cadence is a cadence from V to any chord other than the tonic (I), usually the submediant (VI). This is the most important irregular resolution, most commonly V7–vi (or V7–♭VI) in major or V7–VI in minor. This is considered a weak cadence because of the "hanging" (suspended) feeling it invokes.
At the beginning of the final movement of Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony, the listener hears a string of many deceptive cadences progressing from V to IV6.
Source: Wikipedia, “Cadence” — CC BY-SA 4.0 — text excerpted; see the article for the full text and authors. Revision of 2026-07-02.
How this was counted
- Source. The automatic Roman-numeral analyses (
analysis_automatic.rntxt) of the OpenScore Lieder Corpus, made by AugmentedNet v1.9.1; 1,156 songs. No person checked them. - Ending. The last two different chords of the last key section are classified (inversions are kept for this step, so V in root position → I in root position is a perfect authentic ending and an inverted V or I makes it imperfect authentic). Songs whose last key section has fewer than two different chords are left out: 1,049 of the 1,156 songs have a readable ending.
- Major or minor. By the mode of the key in force at the end of the song (803 major, 246 minor).
- Birth-year groups. The corpus has no composition dates; songs are grouped by the birth year of the composer. The five groups hold 51, 151, 402, 430 and 115 songs.
- Check. The song-by-song scan used for the example lists reproduces every ending count in the dataset file exactly, and in a sample of 60 songs the chord labels fit the notes of their bar (85.0% of the sounding duration against 27.7% for a random chord).
Data used
- OpenScore Lieder, automatic harmonic analyses — 1,156 of the songs come with a Roman-numeral analysis produced automatically by AugmentedNet v1.9.1 and not checked by a person; chords, cadences and key changes are counted from those 1,156 files. CC0 1.0
- OpenScore Lieder Corpus — 1,462 art songs (mostly 19th-century European) transcribed to MusicXML by volunteers; key signatures, time signatures, tempo words, metronome marks, vocal lines and melodies are read directly from the files. CC0 1.0
What these numbers cannot tell you
- The chord labels are software output and have not been checked by people. A mislabelled last chord moves a song between ending types, so treat the shares as approximate (a few percentage points), and the trend as more reliable than any single figure.
- “Ends on V” is not a count of half cadences, and the cadence-shaped pairs inside songs are chord pairs, not phrase ends (see the box above).
- The ending read here is the last chord labelled in the whole score, voice and piano together, including any piano postlude.
- The trend is by composer birth year, not by date of composition, and the oldest group is small (51 songs).
- The repertoire is volunteer-transcribed, mostly 19th-century art songs. It says nothing about how pop, jazz or hymn tunes end.
Checks run each time this page is rebuilt (15)
- major: the song-by-song scan reproduces the 803 final-cadence counts of lieder-harmony.json
- minor: the song-by-song scan reproduces the 246 final-cadence counts of lieder-harmony.json
- songs with a readable ending (1,049) do not exceed the 1,156 analysed songs
- the perfect-authentic-ending share falls at every step from the oldest to the youngest birth group
- listed final chords do not exceed the number of songs
- major: the eight ending types add up to 803 songs
- minor: the eight ending types add up to 246 songs
- PAC is the largest ending type in both modes
- major keys: 'other chord → I' and IAC tie for second place
- minor keys: 'other chord → I' is second
- seventh and secondary-chord shares rise at every step of the birth-year groups
- the cadential six-four share is higher in the oldest group than in the youngest
- the commonest last chords are I in major and i in minor
- songs ending on a tonic label (964) are at least the major I and minor i endings
- arrivals on V are the largest pair type in major-key passages
Data: OpenScore Lieder, automatic harmonic analyses (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (excerpts) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Computed for this site on 2026-10-03; the numbers are counts or shares from the datasets named above, not estimates for music in general. Licences and credits for everything used on this site are on the credits page.