The Magic Chord is a chord and installation (1984) created by La Monte Young, consisting of the pitches E, F, A, B♭, D, E, G, and A, in ascending order and used in works including his The Well-Tuned Piano and Chronos Kristalla (1990).[1] The latter was performed by the Kronos Quartet and features all notes of the magic chord as harmonics on open strings.[1] The quartet has been described as, "offer[ing] perhaps the ultimate challenge in performing in a just environment".[4]
Described as, "complex and throbbing", the chord does not contain its fundamental (see root chords),[5] E♭, and is a subset of the Romantic Chord,[6] G-Dorian in eight octaves, spelled G, A, B, C, D, E, F♯, G.[7] "When the Magic Opening Chord is obtained by playing the Opening Chord at one end of a room while the Magic Chord is played at the other (as Young set it up for me), the feeling-changes of the stereo effect as you move back and forth[-]are dazzling."[5] The opening chord consists of E♭, B♭, C, E♭, F, B♭ (ratios 4:6:7:8:9:12 ),[8] adding C[9] and E♭ to the magic chord when combined as the magic opening chord ().
The Well-Tuned Piano is based on a pitch lattice of perfect fifths and harmonic sevenths, tuned as follows:[10][11]
| Note | Note played | (E♭) | E | F | G | A | B♭ | (C) | D | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note sounded relative to E♭ (Ben Johnston notation) | (E♭) | F7++ | F+ | A7b+ | B7b+ | Bb | (D7b) | E7b+ | |||||||||
| Ratio | (1/1) | 567/512 | 9/8 | 21/16 | 189/128 | 3/2 | (7/4) | 63/32 | |||||||||
| Audio (from C) |
() | () | |||||||||||||||
| Step | Ratio | 567/512 | 64/63 | 7/6 | 9/8 | 64/63 | 7/6 | 9/8 | |||||||||
For example, G (21/16) is the harmonic seventh of the perfect fifth (7/4 * 3/2 = 21/16):
| P5 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H7 | 49 | 147 | 441 | 1323 | (3969) |
| B | F♯ | C♯ | G♯ | ||
| 7 | 21 | 63 | 189 | 567 | |
| C | G | D | A | E | |
| 1 | 3 | 9 | (27) | (81) | |
| E♭ | B♭ | F | |||
- ^ a b c Grimshaw, Jeremy (2011). Draw A Straight Line and Follow It: The Music and Mysticism of La Monte Young, p. 176. ISBN 978-0-19-974020-8.
- ^ Gann 1993, p. 162.
- ^ Gann 1993, p. 143.
- ^ Strange, Patricia and Strange, Allen (2001). The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques, p. 160. ISBN 978-0-520-22409-4.
- ^ a b Duckworth 2009, p. 187
- ^ Potter 2002, p. 86.
- ^ Potter 2002, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Duckworth 2009, p. 168.
- ^ Potter 2002, p. 87.
- ^ Gann, Kyle (1997). "La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano"
- ^ Duckworth 2009, p. 166.