F# Minor - Research on Harmony - Variation 4

The phrase that carries Chopin — his Polonaise in F# minor echoing through a small ascending waltz. Six notes climb from F#2 to G5, Animé, p, legato, in triple time — the only waltz in the series, and the only purely ascending line among the first five variations. The root stacks through F#2, F#3, and F#4, the third warms at A3 and A4, and a red-orange accent at G5 crowns the phrase — a non-chord tone that gives the climax its unexpected glow.

The canvas is dark and concentrated. Shadow and midtone claim nearly everything, the roots filling the lower surface in progressively deepening green-gray. The third's yellow-orange holds the middle as a warm corridor between the dark roots below and the red-orange accent above. Highlights are barely present — just a thin edge at the top where G5 burns in warm red.

F# minor as Chopin might have heard it — dense, contained, the green and gold pressed close, turning gently in waltz time.