Elektra chord

[
listen|filename=Elektra chord.ogg|title=Elektra chord|description=Elektra chord as arpeggio then simultaneously|format=Ogg] Infobox Chord| chord_name=Elektra chord
first_interval=root
second_interval=perfect fifth
third_interval=diminished seventh
fourth_interval=minor second
fifth_interval=diminished fourth

The "Elektra" chord is a "complexly dissonant signature-chord"Lawrence Kramer. "Fin-de-siècle Fantasies: "Elektra", Degeneration and Sexual Science", "Cambridge Opera Journal", Vol. 5, No. 2. (Jul., 1993), pp. 141-165.] and motivic elaboration used by composer Richard Strauss to represent the title character of his opera "Elektra" that is a "bitonal synthesis of E major and C-sharp major" and may be regarded as a polychord related to conventional chords with added thirdsH. H. Stuckenschmidt; Piero Weiss. "Debussy or Berg? The Mystery of a Chord Progression", "The Musical Quarterly", Vol. 51, No. 3. (Jul., 1965), pp. 453-459.] , in this case an eleventh chord.

---

thumb|550px|center|"Elektra" chord implies an E Major and C# Major chord together (C# E# G# = Db F Ab) ">Audio|Elektra chord extended.ogg|Each chord separately as arpeggio then both simultaneously

In "Elektra" the chord, Elektra's "harmonic signature" is treated various ways betraying "both tonal and bitonal leanings...a dominant 4/2 over a nonharmonic bass. Like Elektra herself, this chord is both monomaniacal and polymorphic." It is associated as well with its seven note complement which may be arranged as a dominant thirteenth while other characters are represented by other motives or chords, such as Klytämnestra's contrasting harmony. The Elektra chord's complement appears at important points and the two chords form a 10-note pitch collection, lacking D and A, which forms one of Elektra's "distinctive 'voices'" [Carolyn Abbate, 'Music and Language in Elektra', in "Richard Strauss: Elektra", ed. Derrick Puffett, Cambridge Opera Guides (Cambridge, 1989), 107-27. Cited in Kramer (1993), p.156.]

---

thumb|550px|center|Motivic elaboration of Elektra chord">
Audio|Elektra chord motive.ogg|Elektra chord as motive

The chord is also found in Claude Debussy's "Feuilles mortes", where it may be analyzed as an appoggiatura to a minor ninth chord, and Franz Schreker's "Der ferne Klang", and Alexander Scriabin's Sixth Piano Sonata .

ee also

*Mystic chord
*Petrushka chord
*Tristan chord

ources