The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis
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Although the chord we call the Neapolitan can be found in late seventeenth-century works from a variety of geographical locations, its name is associated with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century opera composers of the so-called Neapolitan School-composers living and working in the city-state of Naples (now a part of Italy). Some of the eighteenth-century composers associated with this group include Alessandro Scarlatti, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and Giovanni Paisiello. In the Romantic era, this chord became a favorite of composers from farther north as well. Beethoven, in particular, liked the rich sound of the Neapolitan.

The term "Phrygian II" comes from the Phrygian mode, whose second scale degree is a half step above the tonic scale degree, and whose supertonic chord is major. Think of E Phrygian, the scale with all white keys (on the piano) from E to E. Scale-degree in E Phrygian is F, and the supertonic chord is F-A-C: a major triad. When tonal-music composers write this chord, however, they are not trying to refer to the Phrygian mode. The chord functions quite differently in a tonal context than it does in a modal one!