Northern lights chord

Image:Northern Lights chord.png

In music, the "northern lights" chord is an eleven-note chord from Ernst Krenek's Cantata for Wartime (1943), that represents the Northern Lights. Krenek's student Robert Erickson cited the chord as an example of a texture arranged so as to "closely approach the single-object status of fused-ensemble timbres, for example, the beautiful 'northern lights' ... chord, in a very interesting distribution of pitches, produces a fused sound supported by a suspended cymbal roll.'Erickson, Robert (1975). Sound Structure in Music, p.166 & 168. {{ISBN|0-520-02376-5}}. "The 'northern lights' sounds, so icy and impersonal and menacing, are a brilliant orchestral invention."Erickson, Robert (1995). Music of Many Means: Sketches and Essays on the Music of Robert Erickson, p.28. Scarecrow. {{ISBN|9780810830141}}.

At eleven notes, the chord is one pitch shy of the total chromatic. Every note except E is sounded.