Nocturnes Op. 48 (Chopin)
Encyclopedia
Nocturne
A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...
s written by Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
in 1841 and published the following year in 1842. They are the only two nocturnes in opus
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
48 and are dedicated to Mlle. Laure Duperré. Chopin later sold the copyright for the nocturnes for 2,000 francs along with several other pieces.
Gustav Barth commented that Chopin's nocturnes are definite signs of "progress" in comparison to John Field
John Field (composer)
John Field was an Irish pianist, composer, and teacher. He was born in Dublin into a musical family, and received his early education there. The Fields soon moved to London, where Field studied under Muzio Clementi...
's original nocturnes, though the improvements are "for the most part only in technique." However, David Dubal
David Dubal
David Dubal is an American pianist, teacher, author, broadcaster and painter.Dubal has taught at the Juilliard School in New York since 1983 and the Manhattan School of Music since 1994. Mr. Dubal is the host of "The Piano Matters" a program of comparative piano performances that can be heard on ...
feels that the pieces are "more aptly described as ballades in miniature."
Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1
Lento
Lento is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.It shares the canton of Alto-di-Casaconi with Monte, Volpajola, Campile, Olmo, Prunelli-di-Casacconi, Campitello, Ortiporio, Canavaggia, Bigorno, Scolca, Crocicchia and Penta-Acquatella.-Population:-References:*...
and is in 4/4 meter
Meter (music)
Meter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented...
. The piece becomes poco più lento at measure
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
25 and enters its middle section, which is a chorale. Later, it moves to doppio movimento agitato at measure 49. The piece is a total of 77 measures long. In general, the scheme of the music is ternary form
Ternary form
Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form, usually schematicized as A-B-A. The first and third parts are musically identical, or very nearly so, while the second part in some way provides a contrast with them...
and follows A-B-A'.
The Nocturne in C minor has been categorized as one of Chopin's greatest emotional achievements. Theodor Kullak
Theodor Kullak
Theodor Kullak was a German pianist, composer, and teacher.-Background:Kullak was born in Krotoschin in the Grand Duchy of Posen, in Wielkopolska - western part of Poland taken during the second partition of Poland by Kingdom of Prussia. He began his piano studies as a pupil of Albrecht Agthe in...
said of the piece, "the design and poetic contents of this nocturne make it the most important one that Chopin created; the chief subject is a masterly expression of a great powerful grief." Jan Kleczyński, Sr.
Jan Kleczynski, Sr.
Jan Kleczyński was a Polish pianist, composer, journalist and chess master.Born into a Polish noble family in Janiewicze, Volhynia , he was graduated from a conservatory of music in Paris and then played several pianist concerts in France...
calls the nocturne "broad and most imposing with its powerful intermediate movement, a thorough departure from the nocturne style." Some musical critics, including Charles Willeby and Frederick Niecks
Frederick Niecks
Frederick Niecks was a German musical scholar and author, who was resident in Scotland for the bulk of his life. He is best remembered now for his biographies of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann.-Biography:...
, do not think the piece deserves its fame and position; though James Huneker
James Huneker
James Gibbons Huneker was an American music writer and critic.Huneker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano in Europe under Leopold Doutreleau and audited the Paris piano class of Frédéric Chopin's pupil Georges Mathias. He came to New York City in 1885 and remained there...
agrees with this assessment, he notes that the nocturne is still "the noblest nocturne of them all." James Friskin found the music to have "the most imposing instrumental effect of any of the nocturnes," calling the crescendo and octaves "almost Lisztian
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
."
Jim Samson notes that the nocturne intensifies "not through ornamentation, but through a new textural background." Kleczytheński commented that the middle section "is the tale of a still greater grief told in an agitated recitando; celestial harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s come to bring one ray of hope, which is powerless in its endeavor to calm the wounded soul, which...sends forth to heaven a cry of deepest anguish." The ending, according to Samson, is "in the nature of an elaborated 'feminine ending
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...
', articulating the reactive final beat of an amphibrach
Amphibrach
An amphibrach is a metrical foot used in Latin and Greek prosody. It consists of a long syllable between two short syllables. The word comes from the Greek αμφίβραχυς, amphíbrakhys, "short on both sides"....
grouping."
Nocturne in F-sharp minor, Op. 48, No. 2
The piece is not as passionate as the Nocturne in C minor. It is muted and the main theme is not as visible. However, it is not emotionless; the muted main theme only covers the motif. The middle section, più lento, is completely different—the piece modulates between minor to major
Major and minor
In Western music, the adjectives major and minor can describe a musical composition, movement, section, scale, key, chord, or interval.Major and minor are frequently referred to in the titles of classical compositions, especially in reference to the key of a piece.-Intervals and chords:With regard...
and increases tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
. Frederick Niecks
Frederick Niecks
Frederick Niecks was a German musical scholar and author, who was resident in Scotland for the bulk of his life. He is best remembered now for his biographies of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann.-Biography:...
commented that the middle section "is much finer" and contains "soothing, simple chord progressions." Chopin once noted that the middle section was like a recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
and should be played as if "a tyrant commands, and the other asks for mercy." The recapitulation is cut short by the coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
that ends in the tonic major.
External links
- Performance of Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 by Cecile LicadCecile LicadCecile Licad is a renowned Filipina virtuoso classical pianist dubbed as a "a pianist's pianist" by The New Yorker, "her artistry, a blend of daring musical instinct and superb training." -Biography:...
from the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format - Chopin Nocturne YouTube video played by Valentina Igoshina