Eb minor - Research on Harmony

The densest étude in the series — ten notes spanning six octaves from Eb2 to Gb7. Animé, mf, legato, waltz. The stronger dynamic gives this opening study a declarative quality, the phrase climbing steadily through the full triad. Three non-chord tones appear: C5 brings red, E5 adds yellow, and A5 introduces yellow-orange — a cluster of warm accents in the upper register.

Blue-violet anchors the bass where Eb2 and Eb3 sit in dark gray tones. The middle register carries the triad's truest colors: Eb4 in blue-violet, Gb5 in green. Above, the warm accents at C5, E5, and A5 form a brief heated passage before Bb5 restores the violet of the fifth and Gb7 dissolves into near-white at the top. The palette shifts from cool darkness through a warm interruption back to pale coolness.

All three chord tones present, the triad stated in full before the variations begin to narrow it. The warm cluster in the upper register is the largest concentration of non-chord color in the cycle — a chromatic richness that the later studies will strip away.