D Major - Research on Harmony - Variations 14

The root skips an octave. D1 appears in the bass, then D3 — not D2 — before F#3 enters. Between D1 and D3 there is a gap: the second octave left empty, the bass region darker on one side of that absence than the other. Six notes, a descending waltz, the phrase opening at A5 and falling through F#5, A4, F#3, D3, D1.

The étude descends through the chord in sequence — fifth and third through the middle and upper register, then the third again at F#3 low, finally the root arriving at D3 and D1 — but with that skipped D2 creating a small asymmetry in the bass. Lent, mp, legato, the phrase settling without urgency.

A minor structural detail that appears in the canvas: the bass holds two dark notes with a gap between them rather than a continuous dark band.