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An augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented sixth above its "root". This chord...

An augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented sixth above its "root". This chord has its origins in the Renaissance, further developed in the Baroque, and became a distinctive part of the musical style of the Classical and Romantic periods. The augmented sixth interval is typically between the sixth degree of the minor scale (henceforth ♭6) and the raised fourth degree (henceforth ♯4). With standard voice leading, the chord is followed directly or indirectly by some form of the dominant chord, in which both ♭6 and ♯4 have resolved to the fifth scale degree (henceforth 5). This tendency to resolve outwards to 5 is why the interval is spelled as an augmented sixth, rather than enharmonically as a minor seventh (♭6 and ♭7). Although augmented sixth chords are more common in the minor mode, they are also used in the major mode by borrowing ♭6 of the parallel minor scale. From the Baroque to the Romantic period, augmented sixth chords have had the same harmonic function: as a chromatically altered predominant chord (typically, an alteration of ii, IV, vi or their parallel equivalents in the minor mode) leading to a dominant chord. This movement to the dominant is