Harmonic Analysis of Chopin's Prelude #4
José Rodríguez Alvira
The first measures
The first few bars of Frédéric Chopin's (1810–1849) Prelude No. 4 for piano are highly chromatic. Yet it is based on a very simple harmonic progression.
The basic chords are none other than the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords (i – V – i – iv – V – i – iv – V).
The following animation starts with these basic chords and gradually transforms them into the chords found in the prelude.
These are the chords used in the first twelve measures. Click the arrow button to see how they transform step by step...
