CHORAL SOCIETIES. 690 CHOBDATA. spectiA'ely. greetings are held every Sunday, and nnce. in May, a public concert is given. An- otlur iiiipiirtant New York society, the Arinn. was founded in 1854. By 1902 its membership had in- creased to 1200. In the West, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Mil- waukee are famous for their choral societies. Here chiefly the tierman element of tlie popula- tion forms male choruses. But there is no lack of mixed choruses, which meet yearly for a great sinking festival. In making these festivals a means for the spreading of nuisical culture and intelligence. Theodore Thomas has been indefati- gable. See iUsic.L Festival. CHORASSAN, Ko'ra-san'. See Khoeasan. CHORAZIN, ki-r.i'zin (Gk. Xopa^elv, Chora- zcin). A town in Galilee mentioned in Matthew xi. 21 and Luke x. 13. It was not far from Bethsaida and Capernaum, all three being in the region where .Jesus passed a large part of his public ministry. It was condemned by him because of its refusal to re[M'nt. The site has been identified as that of the modern Kerazeb, in a small valley a short distance from the north end of the Sea of Galilee and west of the Jordan. Extensive ruins are to be seen here, showing the former importance of the town, which, how- ever, is not mentioned in ancient writings out- side the Xew Testament. CHORD, kOrd (from Lat. chorda, Gk. xop^'/, chord, string of a musical instrument). A com- bination of two or more musical tones of dif- ferent pitch, sounded simultaneously. In har- mony, however, a chord must have at least three tones. All chords, when in their original posi- tions, are seen to be made up of a series of dia- tonic thirds, erected above a fundamental tone or root. The cnnimon chord or triad is the basis of all harmony, and consists of a bass or fundamental tone, with its third and fifth above. A chord of the ninth is a five-tone chord, formed bv adding another third to a dominant Minor se'enth chord. A chord is said to be in its fundamental position when its root note is the ^ f Major. A major triad has a major tliird and perfect fifth. A minor triad has a minor third and per- 1$ Minor. feet fifth, and a diminished triad has a minor third and diminished fifth. $ Chords of the seventh are four-note chords with the highest note an interval of a seventh above the bass note. There are major, minor, dominant, and diminished chords of the seventh. A major srr^cnth chord has a major third, perfect fifth, and major seventh. A minor seventh chord is a minor triad with a minor seventh added. The dominant seventh chord, the most important and frequently used of the seventh chords, is erected upon the dominant (fifth degree) of both major and minor modes, and contains a major triad Willi a minor seventh. A diminishrd seventh chord contains a diminished triad and a dimin- ished seventh, ami occurs only upo» the seventh degree of the minor mode. lowest tone. An inverted chord is one whose position has been changed by setting its lowest f tone an octave higher. Then the inverted chord may be again subjected to the process of inver- sion. It is evident that a chord has as many inversions as it iimtains intervals — i.e. a triad lias two, a seventh has three, and a ninth has four inversions. This change of position makes Fund, position. 1st inv. 2nd inv. TRIAD. Fund, position. Isl inv. 2ndi 3rd;
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■ ^^ SEVENTH. a great ditTcrence in the effect of the chord, and entirely alters its harmonic 'value' ; yet it is only the bass note that determines the inversion. The notes above it may be arranged in any order without aflccting its character. Chord in Fund, position. Chord inverted. Wliile chords in their primary form contain rnly thirds, it will be seen that by inversion, or by doubling one or more of the notes, other intervals are formed. Consonant chords are the triads and their inversions. All others are dissonant chords, containing one or more dis- sonant intervals, and re<]uire to he resolved into consonant chords to attain a point of repose. See CoN.soNANCE: Dissonance. Broken chords are those which are separated so that the notes arc played successively instead of simultaneously. The subject of chords, their treatment, and their figuration, is treated fully in any text-book on harmony; also, and with admirable clearness, in I.avignac, Music and Musirians (Xew York, ISfl!)). CHORD ATA, kur-dfi'tA (Xeo-Lat. nom. pi., from Lat. chorda, chord). The phylum of the animal kingdom that embraces all the vertc- brated animals — fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, together with the Uro- cliorda, or ascidians, and the Adelochorda, or Ilemichorda (see Balanoglossus) — based upon the fact that all these have as a common feature a structure termed the notochord. although in some of the lowest it is present only in the very toung condition. The notochord represents, and in the higher forms is replaced by. the spinal column. "Another nearlv universal feature is
