harmonies in Chopin

[Bob]

What are they?

What are the new innovations Chopin made in terms of harmony?

[Bob]

Where are the Chopin experts?

[cygnusdei]

What about these? Both are seventh chords of some kind, although they are usually not in accidental form. Both appear in the 1st movement of the 2nd sonata (the first one in the opening Grave, the second one in the deceptive cadence before da capo). The first one also appears in Prelude no. 20, and the second one several times in the second subject (?) of Ballade no. 1.

[steve jones]

Im not sure that Chopin innovated many NEW harmonies, rather reworking existing ones in new ways. Firstly, his music is heavily chromatic, using secondary dominants and their substitutes liberally. He also used aug6 chords, borrowed chord etc alot.

But if you asked me where Chopin's innovate lay, with respects to harmony, I would say in the 'presentation' of the harmony, that is, in the figuration and voiceleading.

SJ