The Greatest Chord Progression In Classical Music

[@TheRoneZone]

Comment below which classical piece you think has the greatest chord progression, I'd love to know!

[@isaachanson9347]

Rachmaninoff Prelude No. 4 in D major!

[@TheRoneZone]

@@isaachanson9347 Always nice to see love given to the lesser known pieces. One of my favorites!

[@nadjalagercrantz1781]

Bach ofcourse

[@StuartwasDrinkell]

BEETHOVEN 9TH Symphony 3rd movement -Purely on an emotional level - my theory knowledge is quite rudimentary though i understand dominants secondaries and diminished usage... the 3rd movement makes me cry in my soul with joy.

[@dirtyharry1881]

This one. You are right. I saw Chopin on the thumbnail and I expected it to be the prelude 20

[@nintendianajones64]

"Chopin is the greatest of them all, for with the piano alone he discovered everything." - Claude Debussy

[@Jimmy.Williams]

This is one of my favorite Chopin's pieces, so awesome to highlight it!!!! Excellent analysis, bravo sir!

[@maciek_d]

Thank you. As a Pole I feel blessed to have been born in the same country as Chopin. He truly embodies Polish culture. But honestly, he captured the whole humanity in his pieces. Great analysis. Thanks for creating this videos! Love it

[@TheRoneZone]

You definitely have quite the national treasure in Chopin! Thank you for watching, more to come

[@alvodin6197]

Does he tho, or is that idealizing? There's plenty of evidence of Chopin's sexual and romantic love for several men, Including his close friend Tytus from high school. How do I know? Because he wrote letters about dirty dreams about him and how he wanted so badly to kiss him. I have zero problem with Chopin being gay or bisexual, and I'm straight. However, it would be nice if people would stop idealizing famous people and actually see them for who they were. You cant really say its a style of writing in 19 th century Poland to say you want to kiss your male friend.

[@cimbalok2972]

As an American of partially Polish heritage, I get it. My favorite Chopin works are the Krakowiak op. 14, the Rondo op. 16 (also a Krakowiak) the final mvts of both Concerti (Krakowiak & Mazur), all the Mazurkas & Polonaises, even the Bolero op. 19 with it's Polonez rhythm in the left hand and many other works based on Polish folk music. Thanks for your comment, which, if I had been born in Poland instead of the U.S. I would say "ditto". Chopin put Poland on the map at a time when that was necessary.

[@EverTruu]

Every time I think Chopin couldn’t be anymore genius, I hear a chord a harmonic chord progression like this and my jaw just drops even lower 😂

[@TheRoneZone]

He’s got some hits for sure, the epitome of Romantic era as far as I’m concerned

[@thormusique]

Amen! The C-minor Prelude is a harmonic marvel. And it certainly doesn't disappoint on the emotional front. Cheers!

[@oxennevillafranca2811]

Thank you so much, this video saved my lesson for tomorrow and gave me a lot of clarity about many chords! Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[@salvatormundi5184]

I believe it is my favorite of Chopin; played by Arthur Rubinstein in his album « Nocturnes » (a MUST to listen) is absolute perfection.

[@leemason4024]

Thank you for this video! I was knocked back when you introduced this Chopin piece! I recall my mother playing this at home when i was a child, and then later as 20yo when i heard it on late night FM radio in 1975, as interpreted by Gian Piero Reverberi, an Italian pianist, composer, and more... i went out and purchased that album as soon as it was available in Pittsburgh!

[@richarddoan9172]

Measures 5 and 6 make me cry. That chromatic inner voice movement in m. 5 absolutely wrecks me.

[@TheRoneZone]

Yes indeed! Not to mention the sudden drop in dynamics, those two measures are the musical equivalent of pure heartbreak

[@spockofdune8657]

me too

[@lutherhughes7091]

A breath of fresh air! Thank you so much.

[@dontuateytu2557]

Heard this first in Barry Manilows"Could This Be Magic"...thanks Barry!!

[@Songwriter376]

Yes, and great tune too.

[@tomrockhill8634]

Great song and prelude 👉

[@apresmidi153]

Love this analysis, I can hear how a lot of this piece influenced later jazz piano in an almost uncanny way.

[@RumbleFish69]

Beautiful! This piece always makes me emotional. It makes me think about my life.

[@spockofdune8657]

same here

[@Mike-oz3ox]

Thank you for posting this. When I saw just the title of the video, I immediately thought “Chopin’s C minor Prelude”. As TheRoneZone wonderfully explains, there is so much harmonically captured in this short piece. I’d add the recurring (secondary) dominant 13ths (notably in the cadences of bars 4, 8 and 12, and also on the third beats of bars 1 and 2) which are more than mere accented passing notes. I’ve added my thoughts to the “E Natural / E flat discussion”. (I prefer the E natural).

[@ivonsmith4255]

Chopin was the Master of Emotional Expression for my ear. I love Mozart's happy jolly sunshine feeling but Chopin was so much more lucid in complex emotion

[@TheRoneZone]

And this is what makes it so hard to answer any questions asking “What is your favorite…”. All the greats in the world can do something that another great can’t, and vice versa

[@timothyhilton3408]

Very solemn. Nice piece to play as the end..... edges closer.

[@dragmio]

Wow! This is fantastic! Instant subscription!

[@spockofdune8657]

now I understand why I am all over that piece. It has been playing non stop in my head for days now. But I love it !

[@davidc.williams-swanseauk3623]

To quote Barry Manilow:- "Come, come, come into my arms. Let me know the wonder of all of you. Baby I want you now, now, now and hold on fast. Could this be the magic at last..." It is wonderful to learn how great artists embrace the classical world, and Manilow is a great songwriter, . The Beach Boys did it with "Lady Linda", "Electric funeral" by Black Sabbath embraces Gustav Holtz's Mars, "Night of Fear" by the Move is based around the trumpet voluntary, and of course Procul Harum and "A Whiter shad of Pale" is based very closely on Bach’s ‘Air on a G String’. I'm sure there are many. many more but these are the ones that spring to mind. Of course "Days of Future Past", arguably the first concept album, by the legendary Moody Blues, seamlessly combines classical music with pop/rock and made their career take off.

[@unknownkingdom]

Nope it was bad

[@davidc.williams-swanseauk3623]

@@unknownkingdom Can you expand on that statement?

[@Downthebayou]

Wild ride! Loved it. Thank you!!

[@ArgoBeats]

Man, this is so dope! What do you think of Nocturne 48 n.1's Doppio Movimento, I've always found it uncannily beautiful but I don't exactly know why.

[@TheRoneZone]

Ah, love that piece. Everything that needs to be said happens in the first four measures. The sound of utter despair, and then the Doppio Movimento, the sound of utter desperation!

[@ArgoBeats]

@@TheRoneZoneI'll try to analyze those first four measures' chords then, thank you!

[@kraka2oanIner]

I thought I learned this one; I think I may have learned an abbreviated version. I'll have to revisit! THANKS for this video.

[@MrDarkstar620]

Secondary dominants finally make sense to me. Thanks man. I had a feeling it had something to do with using more tension than usual. Makes me want to look back at Mazurka in G minor a little more. There's a moment where he uses dominant chords and moves in fourths (e.g., G7 to C7, F7 to Bb7). Surely, this Mazurka doesn't compare to his other pieces, in terms of technique application, but it hints for a strong listen to understand it.

[@jpsned]

As I recall, the 1970s English progressive rock group Renaissance began their dramatic song "Ashes Are Burning" with this piece.

[@garyvanremortel5218]

Imagine the burning embers.

[@jpsned]

@@garyvanremortel5218 Right on! Kind of a morbid song. 🙂

[@DanDanDan-c2w]

this was incredibly useful. this is the kind of stuff i want to learn more of. what thorough resources would you recommend?

[@hoon_sol]

Harmony is what's everything.

[@PastPerspectives11]

A complex harmony without a moving rhythm or singing melody is worthless

[@sixmillionaccountssilenced6721]

@@PastPerspectives11 That's why Bach is the GOAT.

[@f4kit]

the video is exceptionnaly clear, interesting and enlightning

[@composer7325]

It would be very helpful if you inserted all the chords and modulations. Thank you for the upload.

[@williamsimonds5429]

Sir, your knowledge of Music Theory is outstanding. I am learning new "stuff" at age 80 - Richmond, Virginia - My Piano teacher told my Mother (early on) that she was wasting Her money. Turns-Out, my Teacher was right

[@japanesemaplepruning]

This is great. I wish every classical and great piece of music was broken down for me.

[@embodiedconducting]

Rather than a secondary dominant choard, I see the Ab triad in m. 2 as a pivot chord in a tonicization or brief moducation to Ab major. As you point out, the Db functions as IV of Ab and NOT as a Neopoloitan chord relating to C minor.

[@mikesmovingimages]

That's what I see, too. Chopin pivots like that all the time to move quickly from one key to the next.

[@BruceEEvans1]

I was assigned this piece early in my piano lessons.I have rather large hands and could handle those 5 note chord stretches fairly easily... as long as I mashed down on the right keys, :-) I haven't played it in a long while. I must dig it out and practice it up again.

[@panlomito]

First confrontation with this theme: Could it be Magic by Donna Summer, later Could it be Magic by Barry Manilow and landing at Chopin Prelude in C minor, so backwards in time. I hated the first for the stupid sexual breathing but still loved the musical theme. Last encounter: an improvisation by Gert van Hoef on an Italian church organ... kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6LOqGOAbq6Ch9Usi=mrONgD4dvYbfrfH0&t=3127

[@TheDfarhie]

Barry Manilow used this as his foundation for his song.....Could It Be Magic.....that's how I fell in love with the chords.

[@composer7325]

Excellent,thank you for upload.if you inserted all the chords from the beginning it would be easier for students to keep up with you.Your video is excellent.

[@TheRoneZone]

Others have said the same, and y’all are absolutely right! Will be sure to keep this in mind next time

[@composer7325]

Thank you for reply,I'm looking forward to your next video.

[@pjbpiano]

The descending bass line is called the chromatic lament bass and it has been used by lots of composers for a few centuries before Chopin. Pretty interesting stuff.

[@jessevallejo8797]

Your skull must be a foot thick. They weren't talking so much about the descending bass line as they were explaining what he did in the descending bassline.

[@SpaghettiToaster]

@@jessevallejo8797 His skull is completely fine, this prelude is a very standard harmonization of the lament bass with some romantic twists.

[@PastPerspectives11]

@@jessevallejo8797your dick must be teeny tiny

[@mikesmovingimages]

@@jessevallejo8797 Cut it out! Personal attacks have no place her. Why are you triggered over music theory?

[@jdaubry6346]

Hello, very nice vid ! If I can say something, I find the zooming thing on the score a bit confusing...

[@kevinbush4300]

Me too!

[@derby2510]

Nicely put together. I like the circle of fifths.

[@majorsynthqed7374]

As, the piece Barry Manilow adopted for Could It Be Magic. What a beautiful song.

[@xpump876]

I was curious what this "music" was , only to find I was very familiar with this as I transcribed and play this on the classical guitar (in a minor ). I really work out well on the guitar inthis key.

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

It's so good, Barry Manilow ripped it off for Could it Be Magic.

[@goshu7009]

Most modern music is just based on Classical Music. Classical Music is based on Eastern European Folkore unified.

[@DoomDaniels]

What a shit song too lol

[@PastPerspectives11]

@@goshu7009could you explain your last assertion?

[@goshu7009]

@@PastPerspectives11 classical music is the unification of Eastern Europe folklores

[@JongmooChoi]

Excellent video! Thanks!!

[@markfilippone3845]

Bravo, Maestro!

[@Kram62]

I play bass...this is so cool! Thanks!

[@Chilajuana]

Very cool tutorial!!!!!!!!!!

[@spockofdune8657]

Great analysis

[@isaachanson9347]

Awesome video!!

[@TheRoneZone]

Thank you Isaac!

[@pagophilus]

Didn't the old computer game on the C64, Ghosts and Goblins, include part of this chord progression as it's in-game music?

[@larrylorenzen2449]

He is the GOAT! Almost all of his pieces are still played today. Who else can say that?

[@TwelfthRoot2]

I love the harmony from this one. It was always one of my favorite. Also op 25 no 12 has a good one (C minor as well). Last one, check out Schubert's D946 no 2 middle section. Warning: you might fall in love. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKCwpIlri9ejfKM

[@Rondo2ooo]

Chopin inspired so many musicians for his musical prowess and Anton Chigurh for the haircut.

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

This is out of my pay grade, but as a beginner pianist I have become nerdly passionate about music theory and analysis. I've gained a much greater respect of musicians for their knowledge. Just a question. Does he create this piece while sitting at the piano, or is it all in his head? How difficult would it be for him to construct everything so that all the pieces fall into place? I know that Luigi laboured over his scores for years, how did Fréderic write his music?

[@TheRoneZone]

That is a great question. Chopin had a lover named George Sand and she described his process in this way: “His creation was spontaneous and miraculous. He found it without seeking it, without forseeing it. It came on his piano suddenly, complete, sublime, or it sang in his head during a walk when he was impatient to play it to himself. But then he began the most heart-rending labor I ever saw. It was a series of efforts, of irresolutions, and of frettings to seize again the certain details of the theme he had heard; what he had conceived as a whole he analyzed too much when wishing to write it, and his regret at never finding it again, in his opinion, clearly defined, threw him into a kind of despair. He shut himself up for whole days, weeping, walking, breaking his pens, repeated and altering a bar a hundred times, writing it and erasing it as many times, and recommencing the next day with a minute and desperate perseverance. He spent six weeks over a single page to write it at last as he had noted it down the very first.”

[@CorCor-mq8vm]

That's the total opposite of Schubert' s writing which was immediate and flawless.

[@felixmarques]

From experience as a composer, there's many ways to go about it. I often use harmonic techniques like the ones in this piece, but I never think of it in terms of theory-if I wanted to know what I was doing in terms of harmonic function, I'd have to analyze it after the fact. After having listened to so much different music for so many years, I've subconsciously picked up on much of the underlying logic. During composition, whatever my starting point is leads on its own to an array of possible next steps, which I hear or play in my head. As I make moment-to-moment choices, the overall form of the piece or passage becomes clearer in my head: the more specific steps I take to shape the rising and easing of tension, the more obvious it becomes just how long I should go. It's all very instinctive. I get the thing Michaelangelo said about sculpting: the statue is already there in the block of marble, I just need to remove what isn't statue.

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I-m watching this video again, and I thank everyone for their input. I'm only now sounding slightly musical at the piano, and interestingly, I'm only now singing what I'm playing. I think Audiation is still a distant glow on the horizon, but I know the path I have to take. It's OK, I packed a lunch and a clean pair of socks.

[@spazmonkey3815]

Beautiful

[@JoEbY-X]

My favorite Neapolitan is at the end of the Dies Irae in Mozart's Requiem.

[@TheRoneZone]

@@JoEbY-X Ahhh yes, one of the most sublime examples of Neapolitan

[@davivify]

Great piece, very satisfying to play. And I happen to love what Barry Manilow did with it. Sue me.

[@johnhuldt]

The fine folks in powermetal band Angra did a "cover" of this called Visions Prelude.

[@TheRoneZone]

I just listened to it, nice!

[@dkba52]

Thank you. I agree

[@johnchessant3012]

great video

[@TheRoneZone]

TY!

[@teodorb.p.composer]

You have propably haven't heard anything by Medtner. Mainly sonata night wind and G minor has amazing chord prohression and the piano concertos, skazki, other sonatas....

[@Phaseish]

hey man grteat channel I am going torhoug this piece. righ tnow and I see in the 3rd Beat , the V/ it also has a b5 #4 , a note that chopin loved before the blues, So people ignore it in the analysis (which isn't very many but I am just curious why? I am looking at it wrong

[@LamarBezerkowietz]

Damn I haven’t heard of the Neapolitan chord since music theory II in junior college. anyone here know about the German / French / Italian 6th chords?

[@charlytaylor1748]

My piano teaching friend said the real reason for learning the piano is to play Chopin!

[@duggysduggys5505]

March Funebre is like a sister. Similar. Just beautiful.

[@TheRoneZone]

Always heard the first part in cartoons and movies and what not. The first time I actually heard the rest of that piece, I was dumbfounded. In a good way of course

[@SillyMushroom1]

Really interesting - thank you

[@TroelsNybo1st]

Up there with Schubert's Streichquintett and Beethoven's op 131 and a few others.

[@drewwoolley5711]

Just curious how is Em ii/vi in the Beatles song if they use B natural? isn't ii/vi in any minor key a diminished chord?

[@redye5858]

amazing video

[@matthew.j.mcpherson]

Fantastic.

[@ikbent262]

I like the timing of your sixteenths notes.

[@peppepop]

You had me at the first chord.

[@TheRoneZone]

For first chords, I gotta say the first chord of Barber’s Adagio For Strings has got to be up there!

[@AethonZerus]

This is a fantastic prelude, but I might have to go with the middle section of the ocean etude.

[@TheRoneZone]

Hmm interesting, which measures exactly?

[@AethonZerus]

@@TheRoneZone Measures 31 through 44. It's a very unexpected progression in many ways full of artful dissonance and surprises. I love it.

[@AethonZerus]

I really like, as usual, Sokolov playing this piece. The performance from his 1987 concert in Helsinki is fantastic.

[@andrewedwards4327]

Love this!

[@jazzrat2000]

great! And speaking of inversions none of those Neapolitan chords are in first inversion... that's what found my interest piqued when I first heard the piece. Calling them IV in Ab is much Easier for me to accept!

[@jkonrad]

Good stuff

[@ElkoJohn]

the musical terminology is way above my pay grade but I like the music - creative harmony & beauty

[@frankw.1721]

Where can one find this for guitar complete with chord diagrams?

[@tommyhaynes9157]

I think Elton John was influenced by this on Funeral For a Friend of the Goodby Yellow Brick album

[@EuphTube]

In my view, it’s Elton John’s magnum opus, and here we find it’s sort of a riff on a Chopin prelude.

[@mercurywoodrose]

I don’t know if it’s Court progressions but I really like debussy Le mer and Eric satire gymnopedie

[@MikeDrewYT]

My mom used to sit down at the piano and play the first 8 chords of this at random times.

[@McEffinHat]

E natural accidental measure 3... the last chord in that measure should be C major.

[@Zebobynh0]

I've seen editions that either include the E natural or the E flat. I tend to prefer the first option, even though Chopin once corrected a student edition, changing E natural to E flat.

[@disinformationworld9378]

Not a mistake. Paderewski edition has it that way.

[@dougie6897]

Not only does the AUGENER’S EDITION have the E natural throughout bar 3 …. But more importantly Barry Manilow plays the E natural also.. so that’s good enough for me 😂

[@Mike-oz3ox]

I was first introduced to this piece in my youth with an E natural, (both from sheet music and hearing Pollini’s recording), so hearing E flat later always seemed strange. With E natural, bars 3 and 4 together are driving forcefully towards G major. But with an E flat following the E natural that drive seems to be interrupted, even reversed, (particularly as it is in the melody) and feels less satisfying. (It could be argued that in G major, the chord progression C Cm D7 G is common, but here the key of G has not been established before the chord in question). I find it a bit surprising that there isn’t total certainty about what Chopin intended. I see that Wikipedia has a section devoted to the “Bar 3 ambiguity”: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude,_Op._28,_No._20_(Chopin).

[@dougie6897]

I totally agree with your harmonic analysis too

[@lukasalihein]

Technically it's 8mm but it's so slow it's basically a 32 bar song. Makes a great jazz tune :)

[@nikitamcconnell8027]

Do you think Chopin composed it consciously by using music theory or just by ear, going wherever his hands were leading him?

[@mattburketthehimhis4750]

Likely mostly by ear, but that doesn't mean that there is no theory involved. Learning the theory of chord progessions (and really internalizing the voice leading of different progressions; to the extent that you hear it as well as see it) allows for your ears to 'discover' new things. So ears and theory are not really seperate- theory can lead your ear places. In Chopin's case, study and internalization of the works of the masters of his day likely broadened his theoretical understanding and therefore allowed his ears to lead him to progressions like this, which sound so natural because of their very solid voice leading.

[@nikitamcconnell8027]

@ great answer. Thank you!

[@vanessajazp6341]

So this was where Barry Manilow got his hit song "Could it be Magic". (measure 5 and 6, specifically).

[@tonyanderton3521]

Yes, Vanessa; that's right.

[@kovie9162]

I don't think that the great singer-songwriters of the 60's through 80's, such as Carole King, Jim Croce, Laura Nyro, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Harry Nilsson, obviously Barry Manilow, and so on, could have been possible without Chopin and pieces such as this. So much of their music is clearly inspired by and in some cases directly based on it. It's timeless, and it literally doesn't get any better. How could it?

[@mikesmovingimages]

All artists stand on the shoulders of those who came before.

[@clownypants2718]

I think this may have inspired some of the ror2 soundtrack

[@cullanpiano]

Chopin keeps C major chord 4th beat of measure 3. The E-flat is incorrect.

[@TheRoneZone]

@@cullanpiano E-natural sounds fine within the context of that measure but the following D makes it highly unnatural for music of that era.

[@HeavenlyBridegroomMusic]

Barry Manilo used this in one of his songs, and Chopin had this song for this for his own funeral

[@michalstrpka4800]

kinda reminds me of the Oscar Peterson´s Hymn to Freedom

[@GoGetFletch]

Try listening to an accomplished jazz pianist such as Brad Mehldau. All this harmonic acrobatics is created in real time while improvising a melody on top.

[@TheRoneZone]

Oh Meldau’s great for sure! But I might be partial to good ole Herbie myself when it comes to harmonic acrobatics. But my all time favorite has to be McCoy Tyner, there’s just something so organic and soulful about him compared to the other greats

[@GoGetFletch]

@@TheRoneZone I agree. All three are greats. What are your views on Keith Jarrett?

[@HartmutGoetze]

🙏❤️

[@57shredder]

Now I know where Elton got Funeral for a Friend

[@claytronico]

Is this the same guy that did Chopin Broccoli?

[@Jaydub9191]

Did Chopin live next to a cemetery? He’s so sad 😢

[@PastPerspectives11]

He was chronically ill basically his entire life

[@carloslukather6658]

sounds exacly the donna summer song could it be magic, they copy from Choppin

[@chronic_daydreamer]

Gosh I wish I understood anything you just said. I’m so clueless with musical theory. 😭 I only know how to write a melody but I don’t understand why any of it works.

[@AmatureAstronomer]

No. Barry Manilow wrote this and used it in one of his songs.

[@youradhere6204]

the facial expressions make it happen

[@cimbalok2972]

I wish you were around during my days in the conservatory. I could have used your vids to cheat in harmony class. (JK, I would not cheat, that would not have been honest. LOL)

[@TheRoneZone]

Haha, students today are definitely lucky having access to ChatGPT, KZbin, etc.

[@patriciodasilva7902]

I disagree -- the modulation is what makes it interesting. the A major chord which is really an A7 is the dominant chord to Dm. Since you're now in the key of D Minor it is no longer a secondary dominant. If you did this. C. A7 G7 Dm C. The A7 would be a true secondary dominant