Db Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 5

The deepest note in the series. Db0 sits at the extreme low end of the keyboard — a black so complete it reads almost as silence. From there the étude arches upward through a bell contour to G5, seven notes in all, Modéré and mp, the phrase unhurried and conversational at a walking pace.

Blue-green toward black dominates the lower canvas where the root occupies the sub-bass. In the middle register, red-violet splits between F3 and F4, the third appearing in two warm iterations that anchor the painting's center. The red-orange accent of G3 and G5 — non-chord tones — intrudes quietly, a warm thread running through an otherwise cool field.

Variation 2 is the series' only Modéré étude, the only one that slows from the prevailing Animé pace. That measured tempo suits the depth of its bass: the phrase has time to let Db0 resonate before the arch carries the line upward.