Frederic Chopin's (1810-1839) Prelude #4 for the piano is a highly chromatic piece. Yet it is based in a very simple harmonic progression as we will try to demonstrate in this article.

The first 12 measures are based in this harmonic progression:

We'll now go measure by measure to see how Chopin transforms these chords into a remarkable example of chromatic harmony. You should follow the article using any edition of the prelude you may have or view or print the full score by clicking here.