False relation

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A false relation (also called cross-relation or English dissonance) is a harmonic effect in Western tonal music, in which a note (usually the third degree of the scale) precedes the same note flattened by a semitone in a different part in the following chord.

For example, to create a false relation one could play E-G-E in one part, and C-E♭-C below this. The E flat in the lower part succeeds the E natural in the upper part.

The note and its flattened self may be sounded at the same time in different parts of the same chord; this is known as a simultaneous false relation.

This effect is common in Renaissance and Tudor choral music, particularly that of England and the remarkably conservative Iberian baroque music. Examples may also be found in music of the so-called English Pastoral school of composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells who were much influenced by this earlier music.