C minor - Research on Harmony

C minor opens on three roots stacked at the bass — C1, C2, C3 — before rising through G5 to Eb6. The chord is introduced from below, three registers of C establishing the dark red-toward-black foundation before any other color enters.

Lent, mp, legato, four beats. The arch rises from C1 (black) through the mid registers to Eb6 (light red-orange) at the crest, then folds back. The palette is weighted toward darkness — nearly forty percent shadows, the remaining midtones and highlights sitting above a substantial base of black and near-black.

The opening establishes the series' fundamental character: C minor is a dark chord. Red tending toward black, with Eb providing a cooler element (blue-violet at low registers, warming to red-orange higher up) and G supplying warmth as red-orange. The three stacked C's in the bass are not a voicing convention but a statement — this chord is anchored in deep red.