Nocturnes (Chopin)

Frédéric Chopin composed his 21 nocturnes as solo pieces for piano between 1827 and 1846.

Nocturne Opus 15 No. 2, Ignacy Jan Paderewski , January 30, 1937

Development of the piano octurne

→ Main articles : Nocturne (music)  and John Field

Between 1814 and 1836 the Irish piano virtuoso and composer John Field was probably the first to publish piano pieces under the French name "Nocturnes". The already romantic style (sometimes called "Romances" in various editions) of the older generation compared to Chopin directly influenced the nocturnes of the younger. In his variable song forms, Field already interweaves the typical "song decorations" like this one and also shows dramatic-moving moments and developments, as they later characterize Chopin's Nocturnes. The piano music of the Polish Maria Szymanowska as well as some Moments musicaux and Impromptus by Franz Schubert can be regarded as related predecessors, which developed hand in hand with the sonic and technical development of the fortepiano and, in the case of Maria Szymanowska, the salon culture . As a romantic solo piece in piano music , the Nocturne is today particularly associated with Chopin's name. He wrote twenty-one nocturnes, grouped under thirteen different opus numbers.

Chopin's Nocturnes

The multi-layered, often melancholy character pieces of Chopin show and illuminate one of the centers of his music, the melody , whose singing shows much of the bel canto of Italian opera arias - for example by Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini . In no other genre did Chopin transfer the expressive possibilities of human art song - especially opera - so directly to his medium, the piano. He was familiar with these musical refinements through visits to the opera at the Teatr Wielki (Warsaw) and stays in Berlin, Vienna and Paris. As a child he heard the famous Italian singer Angelica Catalani , who learned her Belcanto art from a castrato. He repeatedly worked with musicians, such as the Parisian opera singer and composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia , whom he accompanied at concerts and whose songs he performed with her. The delicate fioritures and portamenti of his piano setting are eavesdropped on the singing. The melody arcs played by the right hand unfold over the soundscape of the accompanying figures of the left hand involved in the action, whose modulatory interweaving - often enriched by latent polyphony - carry the dreamy and dark character of the pieces.

The Nocturnes 1 to 18 were published during Chopin's lifetime, the pieces 19 to 21 composed earlier, contrary to Chopin's express request, were only published posthumously .

details

Chopin's Nocturnes are based on different song forms . For those in ABA form, the middle section (B) often shows a change of time or key and / or a more dramatic and faster (rarely slower) tempo than the usually elegiac A section.

Examples:

• F major / F minor op.15, 1, with the change from Andante cantabile / Con fuoco
• F sharp major op.15, 2, with Larghetto / Doppio movimento
• F sharp minor / D flat major op.48, 2, with Andantino / Molto più lento

Some nocturnes indicate that Chopin Fields followed models.

Example:

• The second nocturne in E flat major opus 9, 2 is close to Field's work in the same key according to its structure and concept. For example, the left hand chord inversions are very similar on both pieces. The vocal and sweeping melody with its ornamented cantilena is underlaid by the memorable accompaniment with a harmony that characteristically darkens the flowing sound in the first bar. The D dissonating with the tonic Es creates a tension in the bass that is released in the second bar by shifting to F minor . Already in this first period Chopin used chromatic changes and intermediate dominants and dispensed with the traditional chord progression of the cadenza .

As much as the nocturnes are shaped by the art of melodic invention, the melodic line is not to be considered in isolation. It is related to the differentiated and artful accompaniment, from whose weave its own lines and a latent polyphony sometimes develop. Secondary voices are added to the initially ( monophonic ) melody, or individual notes of the accompanying harmonies of the left hand create rhythmically shifted melodies.

Examples:

• C sharp minor op. 27, 1, right hand bars 20–26
• A flat major op. 32, 2, left hand, bars 14 and 19 f, repeatedly until the end.

First bars of op.27.2

With some nocturnes, the restrained, nocturnal elegiac mood prevails and the melody unfolds over a steady accompaniment:

Examples:

• G minor , op.15, 3
• D flat major op.27, 2
• G minor op.37, 1

In other places, however - like the middle section of the C sharp minor Nocturnes opus 27, 1, but above all the ballad-like work in C minor opus 48, 1 with the dramatically increasing middle section and the full-bodied ending ( doppio movimento, agitato ) Triplet and 16th note chords - the composer shows his powerful, passionate side, as expressed in the scherzi , ballads and the second and third piano sonatas .

Example:

The first bars of op. 48.1

• The expressive C minor piece op. 48, 1 with its simple and diatonic opening melody is characterized by seriousness and pathos and, through the slow step of the accompaniment, initially gives the impression of a solemn march. Different design elements such as syncope (bars 2 and 4), unusual interval steps and abruptly ended phrases (bars 4 and 8) already result in a certain restlessness of the melody, which heralds the outbreak that follows in the B part. Chopin continues the theme and can keep the melodic tension of the beginning and enrich it with new colors of expression. He dispenses with the mechanical-conventional repetition, which he also often used, and presents the recurring main motifs (in bars 5 and 6, as well as 17 and 18) in a new harmonic guise.

Nocturnes published posthumously

A letter from Camille Pleyel to Chopin's sister Louise Jedrzejewicz dated December 12, 1853, states that Chopin did not want his early youth works, including two piano pieces he himself called Nocturne and one his sister so called, to be published. This wish was not heeded.

• Even the early Nocturne of the seventeen-year-old in E minor, Op. 72, 1 ( oeuvre posthumous ), with its passionate expression, floating harmony and singing cantilenas, is one of the composer's characteristic works.

c sharp minor 1827, op. posthumously

• Of the other pieces published posthumously, the Nocturne in C sharp minor ( Lento con gran espressione ), composed in 1827, enjoys great popularity with its painful character and its harmoniously refined accompanying figures. The title Nocturne , given later, comes from Chopin's eldest sister Ludwika Jędrzejewicz, to whom the work was dedicated and who created a list of the unpublished pieces. In the frequently performed piece, Chopin also quotes motifs from other compositions of his own, such as one from the early Concerto in F minor , without reducing its melancholy beauty and uniformity.

Edits

Examples:

• There are several arrangements of the popular, rondo-like Nocturne opus 9, 2; so it was arranged for violin by Pablo de Sarasate .
• An arrangement of the Nocturne in A flat major opus 32, 2, which has not yet been printed , comes from Igor Fjodorowitsch Stravinsky , who orchestrated it for orchestra. This version was performed in Paris on June 2, 1909 at the performance of the ballet Les Sylphides .

Work groups

Year of publication in brackets

op. 9	op.15	op. 27	op. 32	op. 37
À Madame Camille Pleyel (1833) Nos. 1, b minor, 6 / 4 Nos. 2, Es-Dur, 12 / 8 Nos. 3, H major, 6 / 8	À Monsieur F. Hiller (1833) Nos. 1, F Major, 3 / 4 Nos. 2, F sharp, 2 / 4 Nos. 3, G minor, 3 / 4	À Madame la Comtesse d'Appony (1835) Nos. 1, C # minor, 4 / 4 Nos. 2, Des-Dur, 6 / 8	À Madame la Baronne de Billing, nee de Courbonne (1837) Nos. 1, H-Dur, 4 / 4 Nos. 2, As-Dur, 4 / 4	Without dedication (1840) Nos. 1, G minor, 4 / 4 Nos. 2, G Major, 6 / 8
op. 48	op. 55	op. 62	op. 72	without serial number
À Mademoiselle Laure Duperré (1841) Nr. 1, c minor 4 / 4 Nos. 2, F # minor, 4 / 4	À Mademoiselle JW Stirling (1844) Nos. 1, F Minor, 4 / 4 Nos. 2, Es-Dur, 12 / 8	À Mademoiselle R. de Könneritz (1846) Nos. 1, H-Dur, 4 / 4 Nos. 2, E Major, 4 / 4	posthumous (1855) Nos. 1, E Minor, 4 / 4 (72.2 is a funeral march. 72.3 are three early polonaises)	(1870) c sharp minor C minor

literature

• Günther Batel: Frédéric Chopin, Nocturnes. in: Masterpieces of Piano Music. A guide through the piano literature from the beginning to the present Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 1997, ISBN 3-7959-0641-5 .
• Tadeusz A. Zieliński: Chopin. His life, his work, his time. Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-254-08048-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Edition authorized by Franz Liszt: 9 Nocturnes for the Pianoforte by John Field. After Fr. Liszt's Edition. Augener Ltd., London, no year stated.
2. ↑ Music in Past and Present 1949 ff (MGG 1), Vol. 4, 1955, column 170.
3. ↑ 9 Nocturnes by John Field No. I, II, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX.
4. ^ ^{A b} Günther Batel: Masterpieces of Piano Music, Frédéric Chopin, Nocturnes. Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden 1997, p. 293.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Tadeusz A. Zieliński: Chopin. His life, his work, his time. 2008, p. 227 f., 683 f.
6. ↑ 9 Nocturnes by John Field , especially No. IV.
7. ↑ Nocturnes. in: Harenberg piano music guide, 600 works from the baroque to the present, Frédéric Chopin. Meyers, Mannheim 2004, p. 270.
8. ↑ Several sources draw attention to the proximity of Italian opera singing.
9. ↑ Krystyna Kobylańska (ed.): Chopin in the home. Certificates and souvenirs. With a foreword by Jaroslaw Iwasziewicz. Polish Music Publishing House, Kraków 1955, pp. 50/51.
10. ↑ Angela Romagnoli: Article Catalani, Angelika . In: Annette Kreuziger-Herr and Melanie Unseld (eds.): Lexicon Music and Gender . Bärenreiter 2010, ISBN 978-3-7618-2043-8 , p. 167.
11. ↑ Pauline Capdepón: Article Viardot-Garcia. In: Lexicon of Music and Gender. 2010, p. 509.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek. in: Composers' Lexicon. Metzler, Stuttgart 2003, p. 127.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Ewald Zimmermann: Foreword to Frédéric Chopin. Nocturnes . Henle, Munich 2010. Foreword as PDF . Retrieved October 7, 2019.
14. ↑ Krystyna Kobylańska (ed.): Chopin in the home. Certificates and souvenirs. With a foreword by Jaroslaw Iwasziewicz. Polish Music Publishing House, Kraków 1955, pp. 264 and 282.
15. ^ Jan Ekier, Foreword, Nocturnes: Edited from the autographs, copies and original editions, Wiener Urtext Edition, Schott, Vienna 1980, SV
16. ^ Heinrich Lindlar (Ed.): Igor Strawinsky . 1982, p. 204.