Broken chord
Playing the chord notes one after another in succession.
What it means
In a broken chord the notes of a chord do not sound simultaneously but one after another. The chord remains audibly the same: the ear gathers the successive notes into one sonority, above all when they follow quickly and stand in a common pedal or reverberation. The terms broken chord and split chord denote the same thing.
In the notation
Breaks are either written out — as a succession of single notes, often in even values — or indicated by a sign: a vertical wavy line before a notated chord calls for striking it rapidly from bottom to top one after another. This manner of playing is called arpeggio. Written-out breaking figures frequently follow fixed patterns that repeat over longer passages.
Musical use
Breaks fulfil several tasks at once. They keep a chord in motion where a sustained sonority would seem rigid; they fill the space on instruments whose tone fades quickly, such as harpsichord, lute and guitar; and they generate rhythm out of harmony. The Alberti bass of the Classical era, in which the left hand plays around a triad in the succession low–high–middle–high, is the best-known breaking figure of the piano literature.
Melodically, themes arise from breaks that rest entirely on triad notes — they are disjunct, striking and easily recognisable. The boundary between melody and broken harmony is thereby fluid.
The break is to be distinguished from the block chord, whose notes sound simultaneously. Both notations can present the same harmonic course but produce quite different motion.
Other names
The expressions broken chord and split chord are synonymous; split (German zerlegt) also stands as a playing instruction. To be distinguished is the arpeggio, in which the notes are likewise staggered but usually struck rapidly and within the frame of a sustained chord, as is the Alberti bass as one particular fixed breaking figure.
Performance practice
Play breaking figures evenly and lightly, especially in accompanying parts — they should carry, not press. Listen to the harmony, not the single notes: the chord should sound, not the figure. Give the bass note a little more weight than the rest, so that the foundation stays audible. And at the piano check the use of the pedal — it decides whether the break blends into sound or appears as a line.