What are quartal and quintal harmony?

Answer 1

Traditionally, Western music has utilized what is called tertiary harmony. It's called "tertiary" because we create triads, or chords, by taking a note and stacking two intervals of a third on top. Creating a triad off of all 7 notes of our chosen scale gives us our diatonic chords of that scale.

Extending off of this idea, a system of quartal harmony would have us create our chords by stacking fourths on top of each note in the scale rather than thirds. The resulting harmonies sound quite different and are a bit "alien" to our ears. Quintal harmony works the same way, but instead of stacking fourths, you stack fifths instead. Both systems are somewhat similar to each other, since both 4ths and 5ths can either be perfect, augmented, or diminished.

Composers will use quartal or quintal harmony when they want to create a ambiguous, open, or ominous sound.

Answer 2

Quartal harmony is a type of harmony built by stacking intervals of fourths, which can be perfect, augmented, or diminished. It is characterized by a modern, open sound and is often used to create a sense of ambiguity and richness in music.

Answer 3

Quartal refers to harmony built on 4ths intervals and quintal is built on 5ths intervals. It should be noted that these intervals can be perfect, augmented, or diminished in the respective arrangement of the sonorities. Quartal and quintal harmonies are also the inverse of each other and can be turned into the other by changing the order of pitches. It is important to be aware of the context of the music and how the harmony is functioning on a larger scale than just the intervalic material.