Chordal

What it means

Chordalisch (chordal) — the more common German word is akkordisch — describes a texture in which all the voices move in the same rhythm, so that every syllable or every beat yields a full chord. One also speaks of note-against-note texture or of homorhythmic texture. The counterpart is the polyphonic texture, in which the voices are led rhythmically independently.

Musical use

The advantages of the chordal texture are clarity and intelligibility of the text: since all the voices sing the same syllable at the same time, the word stays distinct. That is why the chorale setting, in which a melody is harmonized in four parts note against note, is the best-known form. The falsobordone of the Renaissance, a chordal psalm setting, is also based on it.

In alternation with polyphonic sections the chordal texture becomes a means of shaping. In the vocal music of the sixteenth century, chordal passages often emphasize a key word — after a many-voiced web, unanimity suddenly sets in, and the word gains weight.

Bear in mind that chordal is not synonymous with simple. Even in note-against-note texture the rules of voice-leading apply: each voice should form a meaningful line of its own, parallel fifths and octaves are to be avoided, and the connection of the sonorities should take the shortest possible paths. In the study of counterpoint, note-against-note texture is the first of the five species.

Chordal texture is the basis of many genres: of the church-hymn setting, the falsobordone, the hymn, and the cantional setting of the sixteenth century. In the chorale setting of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, for instance in Bach's four-part chorales, it is the rule. Within polyphonic works it is often used as a contrast, for instance to emphasize important passages of text or to conclude a section solemnly.

Performance practice

In chordal texture, take care that all the voices enter and end exactly together. At the same time each voice should remain audible as a line — so practise it individually as well. Give priority to the upper voice, but let the outer voices carry together. And keep the sonorities round: a chordal texture lives from balance, not from volume.