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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.' "The 'northern lights' sounds, so icy and impersonal and menacing, are a brilliant orchestral invention."

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

References

1. ^ Erickson, Robert (1975). Sound Structure in Music, p.166 & 168. ISBN 0-520-02376-5.
2. Erickson, Robert (1995). Music of Many Means: Sketches and Essays on the Music of Robert Erickson, p.28. Scarecrow. ISBN 9780810830141.

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