Frédéric Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor – Harmonic and Formal Analysis

​‪@mr_play_everything_by_ear‬ A1 means the first occurrence of Section A and A2 means the second occurrence and so forth. The section letters that stand alone without a number suffixed to it indicate that they only appear once in the whole work. 0:06 Introduction – G minor: Neapolitan This introduction highlights the Neapolitan chord giving this section a subdominant function. 0:35 A1 in G minor A1 appears in the key of G minor which is the home key of the work. 1:00 Transition in G minor This Transition starts with materials from A1 and slowly transitions to Section B which is also in the key of G minor. Please note that this is the only time we hear Section B in this work. 1:55 B in G minor This section is relatively stable in the home key of G minor. 2:13 Closing Theme in G minor This Closing Theme is stable in the home key of G minor. 2:29 Transition This Transition shifts to the key of Eb major. 2:55 C1 in Eb major This is the first appearance of Section C in the key of Eb major. 3:25 Closing Theme This Closing Theme confirms the in Eb major. 3:50 Transition This Transition shifts us back to A2. 4:00 A2 in A minor The second occurrence of Section A is in the key of A minor. 4:30 C2 in A major The second occurrence of Section C is in the key of A major. 4:47 Transition This Transition starts with materials from C2 and gets into the next Transition, the same composition technique used at the 1:00 Transition 5:02 Transition This Transition modulates to Eb major setting up for Section D. 5:18 D Similarly to Section B, this Section D, in Eb major, occurs only once in this work. 5:27 Transition Sequences and a plethora of nonfunctional chord progressions are used and eventually bringing us back to Eb major. 5:50 C3 in Eb major The third occurrence of Section C is in the key of Eb major. 6:14 Closing Theme This section confirms the key of Eb major. 6:33 Transition This section modulates back to G minor. 6:47 A3 in G minor This is the third occurrence of A3 back in G minor, the home key. 7:23 E in G minor This Section E only occurs once in this work. 7:50 Transition This Transition connects Section E to the Coda. 8:02 Coda The Coda confirms the home key of G minor.