Diminished Sevenths!

Oh, how I love diminished sevenths! Here are a couple of quick videos featuring them. The first is from a PWJ exercise of block and broken-chord inversions/arpeggios of D diminished seventh. The second, which is the "Voice of the Dead" section of the Chopin Nocturne in F Minor, features C diminished seventh, and then G diminished seventh, in the right hand.

I wonder ... did Chopin use diminished sevenths because he wanted this section to sound like the voice of the dead, or do I call it the "Voice of the Dead" because it uses diminished sevenths with the sinister "voice" in the bass?

It's a mystery.

I would so love to post a video of myself playing this nocturne. I've tried to make one, but I can't seem to get through it without making some egregious error. And then, after that one, I make three or four more before I get to the end. So, dear readers, you will still need to wait for this one.

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