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his Choral Symphony because a chorus is used in the last movement. 2 Choral (kə räl′). German name for the Lutheran CHORALE.

chorale (kə ral′, kə räl′). A kind of hymn that was first sung in the Protestant (Lutheran) churches of Germany early in the sixteenth century, replacing the Gregorian chant of the Roman Catholic services. In keeping with the Protestant idea that the people should understand and take part in church services, chorales were sung not by the choir but by the con- gregation, and their text was in German, not Latin. The music of some chorales was adapted from Latin hymns, others were based on German hymns or even secular (nonreligious) songs, and still others were

original compositions expressly written for the church. Martin Luther, founder of the denomination bearing his name, wrote numerous chorales, and one of them, Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”), is still frequently sung in Protestant churches. Here is the beginning of this chorale as harmonized by Bach in the eighteenth century.

The form of the chorale that is best known today dates from the time of Bach (1685–1750). Unlike the earlier chorales, it usually has a four-part har- mony and a steady, even rhythm, marked by sus- tained (long-held) notes at the end of phrases. Though Bach wrote the original music for only thirty or so chorales, he created harmonies for about four hundred others, which he used mainly in his church cantatas (see CANTATA) and also as the basis for his chorale preludes for organ (see CHORALE PRELUDE).

chorale cantata A CANTATA in which two or more of the movements are based on the text and/or melody of a CHORALE.

chorale fantasia An organ work in the style of a

FANTASIA (def. 3) that is based on a CHORALE

melody.

chorale fugue An organ work in which the first one or two phrases of a CHORALEare used as sub-

jects of the fugue. See also CHORALE PRELUDE. chorale Mass A setting of the Mass based on a German CHORALE.

74 chorale motet

chorale motet A polyphonic vocal work based on a German CHORALE. One of the vocal parts is some- times replaced by the organ.

chorale partita Also, chorale variations. A set of variations, usually for keyboard, based on a

CHORALEmelody.

chorale prelude Also, organ chorale. A compo- sition for organ based on a chorale melody (see

CHORALE). Originally designed to be played by the

organist as an introduction to the congregation’s singing of the chorale, the chorale prelude gradually became more elaborate, and eventually it became a separate form. There are various kinds of chorale prelude, which are distinguished by the way in which the chorale melody is used. Some present the melody in decorated form over free harmonies, oth- ers use fragments of the melody as the subject for a chain of short fugues, others present the melody in long notes accompanied by fragments of itself, and still others consist of variations on the chorale melody. Many keyboard composers of the baroque period (1600–1750) wrote chorale preludes, among them Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel, and others, but the ones best known today are those of Bach.

choral music Music for a chorus, that is, a group of singers with more than one singer to a voice-part, with or without instrumental accompa- niment. The music may be monophonic (with only one voice-part) as in Gregorian chant, or it may be polyphonic (with several voice-parts). It may be performed by a dozen singers or fewer, or by a huge group of several hundred singers. Much of the choral music written over the centuries has been for worship services. Among the principal forms of religious choral music are the ANTHEM,CANTATA, CHORALE, HYMN, MASS, MOTET, ORATORIO, PAS- SION, and TE DEUM.

choral symphony A symphony that includes some choral music. The most familiar example is Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9. Others are Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 and Vaughan Williams’s A Sea

Symphony.

chord (kôrd). A group of two or more notes sounded at the same time. The different kinds of chord and the ways in which they are related to one another make up the study of HARMONY. Chords are

made up of intervals (see INTERVAL, def. 2), which in turn are based on the degrees of the scale (see SCALE DEGREES).

The simplest chord is the triad, which is the building block of classical harmony. The triad is made up of two thirds. The bottom note of the triad is called the root (or fundamental), the middle note a third above the root is called the third, and the top note, a fifth above the root, is called the fifth. Thus, in the triad C–E–G, C is the root, E the third, and G the fifth.

In a given scale, such as C major, there are dif- ferent kinds of triad, depending on the intervals between the other tones and the root. The triad C–E–G is a major triad, since the middle note is a major third above the root and the top note is a per- fect fifth above the root. The triad D–F–A is a minor

triad, since the middle note is a minor third above

the root and the top note again is a perfect fifth above the root. The triad B–D–F is a diminished

triad, since the middle note is a minor third above

the root and the top note is a diminished fifth above the root. In a fourth type of triad, the augmented

triad (for example, C–E–G#), the middle note is a major third above the root and the top note is an aug- mented fifth above the root. (The top note is not actually in the scale of C major, which contains no sharps or flats.)

Triads can also be classified in another way, as diatonic or chromatic. A diatonic triad contains only notes that belong to a particular key (appear in its scale). Of the triads above, all but the augmented triad are diatonic since they can be formed from the notes of the C-major scale. The augmented triad uses a note foreign to the key (G-sharp), and is therefore called a chromatic triad or, also, an

altered chord. (Of course, a triad diatonic in one key

may be chromatic in another.) These classifications are based on the classical concepts of harmony and

chord 75

key signatures, which do not necessarily apply to music written before 1700 or to much of the music written since about 1910.

The key of C major, like all other major keys, has seven possible diatonic triads, based on each of the seven notes from C to B. Like the scale degrees, these triads are identified by Roman numerals, the same ones that mark the scale degree of their roots. Thus the triad built on F (the fourth degree in the key of C) is called a IV chord, that on G (the fifth degree in the key of C) a V chord, and so on. Chords I, IV, and V all are major triads, II, III, and VI are minor triads, and VII is a diminished triad. (There is no augmented triad in a major scale.) A minor key, such as C minor, has more possible

triads, since the minor scale includes certain scale degrees in two forms (for example, in the C-minor scale, both A natural and A-flat and both B natural and B-flat can be used). Again, various kinds of triad are possible, as shown here:

The notes of a triad need not appear in the conven- tional order, with the root at the bottom. When they do appear in this arrangement, for example with C as the lowest note of a C–E–G chord, the triad is said to be in root position. (The order of the other two notes, E and G, does not affect this terminology, which depends entirely on the position of the root, C.) When the third is the lowest note (for example, E–G–C′), the triad is said to be in the first inversion and is referred to as a6

3chord (pronounced “six-three chord”) because

the upper notes are a sixth and a third above the lowest note of the chord. (It is also called simply a

sixth chord.) When the fifth is the lowest note (for

example, G–C′–E′), the triad is said to be in the

second inversion and is referred to as a 6

4chord (“six-

four chord”) because its upper notes are a sixth and a fourth above the lowest note. Another kind of sixth chord is the added sixth, formed simply by adding a sixth to a triad, such as A to the triad C–E–G.

Naturally, not all chords are made up of only three notes. In four-part writing for voices or instru- ments (such as music for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices, or a string quartet) the chords may either contain more notes than a triad or they may be triads with one of their notes doubled (repeated) in another octave (for example, C–E–G–C′).

If still another third is added above a triad in root position, the result is a seventh chord, so called because the highest note is a seventh above the root. Again, there are various kinds of seventh chord, depending on what kinds of interval they contain (major, minor, diminished). Among the most important are the dominant seventh chord, consisting of a major triad with a minor third above it (in the key of C major, G–B–D–F), and the diminished seventh chord, a diminished triad with a minor third above it (in the key of C minor, B–D–F–A). An augmented major sev-

enth chord is an augmented triad (see above) plus a

major seventh; an augmented seventh chord is an augmented triad plus a minor seventh. With a four-note chord, not two but three inversions are possible, since any of the four notes may be used as the root.

If a third is added above a seventh chord, a ninth

chord results. Similarly, the addition of a third to a

ninth chord produces an eleventh chord, and still another third above an eleventh chord produces a

thirteenth chord. All of these chords, consisting of

five, six, and seven notes respectively, can be inverted. The thirteenth is the largest chord that can be built from thirds, since it contains seven notes. Any addi- tional note would simply be a repetition (doubling) of a note already present in another octave.

Chords built up from fourths instead of thirds are known as fourth chords. (See also FOURTH CHORD;

SIXTH CHORD.) In addition, chords may be constructed from seconds; these are sometimes called tone clusters.

fig. 59 p/u from p. 78

fig. 60 p/u from p. 79

76 chordophone

chordophone (kôr′də fo¯n′′). Any musical

INSTRUMENTin which the sound is produced by the vibration of one or more strings, which are bowed (as in the violin, hurdy-gurdy, crwth, etc.), or plucked (as in the guitar, harp, harpsichord, etc.), or struck (as in the piano, dulcimer, etc.).

chord organ See under ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS. chorister (kôr′i stər). Any member of a choir, but the term is most often used for a boy singer in an English church choir.

chôro (shà ô′rô) Portuguese: “weeping,” “tears.” Music for an urban Brazilian instrumental ensemble in which one performer acts as soloist. Heitor Villa- Lobos wrote fourteen such works.

chorus (kôr′əs). 1 A group of singers large

enough so that there is more than one singer to a voice-part. The most common kind of chorus includes four types of voice—soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. However, there are numerous special combinations, including the men’s chorus, with parts for first and second tenor, baritone, and bass, and the women’s chorus, with parts for first and second soprano, and first and second alto. An a

cappella chorus is one that performs without

instrumental accompaniment. See also GLEE CLUB.

2 A composition or section written for or sung by a

chorus. 3 The refrain of a song. In many folk songs and in operettas, the verse is sung by a soloist and the REFRAIN(def. 1) by a group (chorus). In popu- lar music, this part of a song is far more important than the verse, and most familiar popular song tunes are actually the melody of the chorus. Such choruses usually consist of four eight-bar sections, the third of which is the contrasting BRIDGE

(def. 3).

chorus reed A class of organ stops; see under

ORGAN.

Christmas carol See CAROL, def. 1.