Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 August 26

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

August 26

What is a large chord in terms of music?

When I came to Wikipedia, I read that Sergei Rachmaninoff was famous for using large chords in his compositions. But I am not sure what a large chord is. I searched for the term but it does not appear to be defined (or otherwise illustrated) here at Wikipedia. I already know what a sound envelope is, but suppose that a large chord is something more than a polyphonic combination of several notes together, sounding off at the same time. Before I came to the reference desk, I did a few cursory searches to conclude this is probably a term of art that is self-evident to students of music, but I have a hard time reading sheet music. In what way is a "large" chord different from an ordinary chord? 216.99.219.124 (talk) 08:41, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

I think it probably refers to his piano music, and just means chords containing a lot of notes. typically four in each hand, as in the extract from the 3rd Piano Concerto shown in the article. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 08:58, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

It might also refer to his widely spaced chords, spanning tenths and even broader intervals. Check out the left hand's chords in these opening bars from his Piano Concerto No. 2, for example. ---Sluzzelin talk 10:02, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

I would guess that "large chords" implies many notes. And yes, for his piano music most notably (orchestrally he wrote "large chords", but not particularly larger than many of his contemporaries like, say, Richard Strauss). "Four in each hand" is not uncommon--at often at high speed with large leaps from chord to chord. Here is a small scanned excerpt from the piano cadenza of his 3rd Piano Concerto, first movement, showing sustained use of four notes in each hand, large leaps, etc (and this is just a small excerpt--the cadenza goes on for pages). Playing eight notes with ten fingers counts as "large", I think. Even if you can't read music notation well, it should be clear that there are many 8 note chords in this piano solo. The changes in clef and the parts with an "8" and a dashed line indicate large leaps across the keyboard. He's not the only composer who calls for 8 note chords on a piano (Beethoven comes to mind), but he calls for such chords quite frequently. He's also noted for sometimes using "wide chords", being the reach of most hands. Reaching a tenth (and octave and a third) is something many composers occassionally call for, and which many pianists can do (I can, just barely). Rachmaninoff sometimes calls for intervals of a 13th, an octave and a fifth--way beyond my hand's reach. Pfly (talk) 07:36, 28 August 2011 (UTC)