Quintal chord voicings

Quintal chords are chords with a lot of 5th intervals in them. They’re fairly uncommon but began to appear in the 20th century.

There’s a finite number of these in practice. Here’s some examples:

  • Barron chord voicing
  • Hancock chord voicing
    • Note: “only” has 2 P5s
  • D A E B F# C#
    • most “basic” since it’s literally just stacking 5ths
    • maj13 chord
    • 7 in melody (if applicable)
    • Interval structure: P5 | P5 | P5 | P5 | P5
  • Ab Eb F C G
    • maj13 chord
    • 7 in melody (if applicable)
    • interval structure: P5 | M2 | P5 | P5
    • used a lot in “Deference for Darkness” (Halo 3: ODST)
  • F G D A E F
    • This is one I “made up” – influenced by the one from “Deference for Darkness”
    • maj13 chord
    • root in melody (if applicable)
    • Interval structure: M2 | P5 | P5 | P5 | m2

An example by Bartok: