E Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 6

Pure ascent, pure chord. Variation 6 climbs from E2 to G#6 without deviation — no non-chord tones, no tensions, only the three families of E Major: yellow (E), yellow-green toward green (G#), blue toward orange (B). Six notes, rising steadily in triple time, the phrase hanging at the top.

The waltz meter gives the ascending line a different gravity than a four-beat étude would. The climb is lighter, each step falling on a lighter syllable of the measure. The highlights dominate overwhelmingly here — the upper register, pale and bright, holds the painting's center of gravity upward.

Animé, mp, legato. No accent, no shadow, no tension. Within the E Major series, which often carries orange D3 or violet A# as interruptions, Variation 6 is uninterrupted — a single arc from warm dark to pale bright, the chord speaking without anything added.