Chord voicing

In music theory, voicing is "the manner in which one distributes, or spaces, notes and chords among the various instruments" or "simultaneous vertical placement of notes in relation to each other." It includes the instrumentation and vertical spacing and ordering of the musical notes in a chord: which notes are on the top or in the middle, which ones are doubled, which octave each is in, and which instruments or voices perform each note.

The following three chords are root-position C major triads voiced differently:

In these examples, all three voicings above are in root position. The first is in close position (the most compact voicing), while the second and third are in open position (that is, with wider spacing). In triadic chords, close root-position voicing is the most compact voicing, with the notes in major third intervals and the root in the bass note. Close and open harmony are harmony constructed from close- and open-position chords, respectively.

Many composers, as they developed and gained experience, became more enterprising and imaginative in their handling of chord voicing. For example, the theme from the Andante movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s early Piano Sonata No. 10 (1798), presents chords mostly in closed position:

On the other hand, in the theme of the Arietta movement that concludes his last piano sonata, Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 (1822), Beethoven presents the chord voicing in a much more daring way, with wide gaps between notes, creating compelling sonorities that enhance the meditative character of the music:

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