History[edit]

In the Middle Ages, simultaneous notes a fourth apart were heard as a consonance. During
the common practice period (between about 1600 and 1900), this interval came to be heard
either as a dissonance (when appearing as a suspension requiring resolution in the voice
leading) or as a consonance (when the tonic of the chord appears in parts higher than the fifth
of the chord). In the later 19th century, during the breakdown of tonality in classical music, all
intervallic relationships were once again reassessed. Quartal harmony was developed in the
early 20th century as a result of this breakdown and reevaluation of tonality.

Precursors[edit]

The Tristan chord

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The Tristan chord is made up of the notes F, B, D and G and is the very first chord heard
in Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde. The bottom two notes make up an augmented fourth; the
upper two make up a perfect fourth. This layering of fourths in this context has been seen as
highly significant. The chord had been found in earlier works (Vogel 1962, 12;Nattiez 1990,
) (notably Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18) but Wagner's use was significant, first

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because it is seen as moving away from traditional tonal harmony and even towards atonality,
and second because with this chord Wagner actually provoked the sound or structure of
musical harmony to become more predominant than its function, a notion which was soon after
to be explored by Debussy and others (Erickson 1975,[page needed]). Beethoven's use of the chord is
of short duration and it resolves in the accepted manner; whereas Wagner's use lasts much
longer and resolves in a highly unorthodox manner for the time. Despite the layering of fourths,
it is rare to find musicologists identifying this chord as "quartal harmony" or even as "protoquartal harmony", since Wagner's musical language is still essentially built on thirds, and even
an ordinary dominant seventh chord can be laid out as augmented fourth plus perfect fourth (FB-D-G). Wagner's unusual chord is really a device to draw the listener into the musicaldramatic argument which the composer is presenting to us. However, fourths become
important later in the opera, especially in the melodic development.
At the beginning of the 20th century, fourth-based chords finally became an important element
of harmony.

The Mystic chord

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Scriabin used a self-developed system of transposition using fourth-chords, like his Mystic
chord in his Piano Sonata No. 6. Scriabin wrote this chord in his sketches alongside other
quartal passages and more traditional tertian passages, often passing between systems, for
example widening the six-note quartal sonority (C F B E A D) into a seven-note
chord (C F B E A D G).