Psalms chord

In music, the Psalms chord is the opening chord of Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. It is a "barking E minor triad"^[1] that is voiced "like no E-minor triad that was ever known before"^[2] – that is, in two highly separate groups, one in the top register and the other in the bottom register. The third of the E-minor triad, rather than the tonic, receives strong emphasis.

It is common to the octatonic scale and the Phrygian scale on E, and the contrasting sections of the first movement based on the scales are linked by statements of the Psalms chord.^[3]

William W. Austin describes the Psalms chord in the following way: "The opening staccato blast, which recurs throughout the first movement, detached from its surroundings by silence, seems to be a perverse spacing of the E minor triad, with the minor third doubled in four octaves while the root and fifth appear only twice, at high and low extremes."^[4]

See also

• Elektra chord
• Mystic chord
• Petrushka chord
• Psalms
• Tristan chord

References

Further reading

• Tymoczko, Dmitri (Spring 2002). "Stravinsky and the Octatonic – A Reconsideration", p. 93. Music Theory Spectrum, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 68–102.
• van den Toorn, Pieter C. (Autumn–Winter 1975). "Some Characteristics of Stravinsky's Diatonic Music", p. 121. Perspectives of New Music, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 104–138.

• v
• t
• e

Chords

By form

Triad	Major Minor Augmented Diminished Suspended
Seventh	Leading-tone Major Minor Dominant Dominant seventh flat five Diminished Half-diminished Diminished major Minor-major Augmented major Augmented minor Altered seventh Nondominant Harmonic seventh
Extended	Ninth Eleventh Thirteenth Upper structure Dominant 7♯9 Polychord Tone cluster
Added / omitted	Sixth Augmented sixth Lydian Seven six
Specific	Alpha Bridge Complexe sonore Dream Elektra Farben Grandmother Magic Mystic Northern lights Petrushka Psalms So What Tristan Viennese trichord
General	Mixed interval Secundal Tertian Quartal Synthetic chord Tetrad

By function

Diatonic	Tonic Supertonic Mediant Subdominant Dominant Submediant Leading-tone / Subtonic
Altered	Approach Borrowed Chromatic mediant Neapolitan Passing
Secondary	Secondary dominant Secondary leading-tone Secondary supertonic
Other	Common Contrast Primary triad Subsidiary Substitute

Techniques

• Barre
• Block
• Chordioid
• Chord-scale system
• Guitar
• Open
• Power
• Slash

Other

• Arpeggio
• Chord names and symbols
• List of chords
• Factor