Nocturne No.5 in B-flat major H.37

Description

John Field, born in Ireland, was the first to establish the nocturne as a genre, the one Chopin later took up. Nocturne No. 5 in B-flat major, H. 37, was published in 1817 and is among the most often played of Field's nocturnes. The pairing of a singing right hand with a left hand spreading wide broken chords beneath it appears here already in finished form.

It is in B-flat major and 12/8: four broad beats to the bar, each dividing into three, which gives a slow, rocking motion. The right hand sings a long, ornamented melody while the left supports the harmony with broken chords reaching up from the bass across a wide range. The left hand actually has more notes than the right, a sign of how constantly the accompaniment moves to sustain the sound. It lasts about four minutes twenty.

It is rated intermediate. At about four notes per second speed is not the problem; balance is. The hand colours show the left hand's broken chords carrying more notes than the melody, and the key is to keep that left hand quieter than the tune without letting it break off. Use the score view to see where the harmony changes, so that pedal changes keep the sound clear. The range runs from B-flat 1 to B-flat 6, and no octave shift fits it on the C2 to C7 of a 61-key keyboard.

One of Chopin's signature genres — beautiful, lyrical piano pieces that evoke the stillness and poetry of the night.