Description
The second of the two nocturnes of Op. 27, published in 1836, and often placed first among Chopin's nocturnes for sheer finish. Where its companion, No. 1, is a dark piece in C-sharp minor, this one is in D-flat major — the same sounds read as a major key — so the two form a deliberate pair.
In D-flat major and 6/8, the melody does not stay single for long: it soon doubles into thirds and sixths and proceeds like a duet, over a left hand of widely spread broken chords. Each repetition of the theme brings more ornament, and the music swells greatly towards the end before contracting back into quiet.
The advanced rating reflects the difficulty of singing a melody in double notes: sounding two voices at once, bringing only the upper forward, and still making the two lines sound as though they were singing separately. The left hand's broken chords are widely spaced too, which demands a soft tone from a hand held open.
One of Chopin's signature genres — beautiful, lyrical piano pieces that evoke the stillness and poetry of the night.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Frederic Chopin was born in Poland and made his career in Paris, remaining unusual among great composers for writing almost exclusively for piano. He poured his longing for his homeland into mazurkas and polonaises, while his ballades and etudes combine poetic melody with harmonic innovation. This site includes the "Revolutionary" and other etudes, Ballades No. 1 and No. 4, nocturnes, and the Preludes, Op. 28.
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