D Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 2

Two descending waltzes in a row — but this one carries a different foreign note. D#5 enters mid-phrase, its blue-violet a cooler, darker intrusion than the violet of Variation 1's A#. The étude falls from F#6 to D1 in triple time, the D# appearing as the line passes through the middle register.

Blue-violet on a canvas of greens and warm yellow-oranges: a cool, almost wintry accent among the characteristic tones of D Major. The seven notes are otherwise the key's own — D, F#, A in their orange, seagreen, and yellow — but the D# touches the phrase at its midpoint, briefly cooling what surrounds it.

Like Variation 1, the étude is long and descending. But the color of the tension differs: violet versus blue-violet, the two variations carrying their foreign notes in distinctly different hues.