The nocturne

Definition

The nocturne for piano is a lyrical piece, at a slow or moderate tempo, inspired by the atmosphere of the night: a cantabile melody in the right hand, often ornamented like a bel canto opera aria, over a wide-arpeggio accompaniment in the left hand that makes use of the sustain pedal. The genre was created by the Irishman John Field (first nocturnes published in 1812) and brought to its peak by Fryderyk Chopin, who wrote 21 of them. Before Field, the term “nocturne” (or serenata notturna) indicated evening entertainment music for small groups (Mozart, Serenata notturna K. 239).

Typical form

Ternary A–B–A′ (the most frequent form in Chopin):
A: cantabile melody in the tonic, regular phrases, ornaments increasing on repetition.
B: contrast of character (more agitated or chorale-like), often in a remote key or in the parallel mode.
A′: return of the melody, more ornamented or shortened, coda with cadences and long chords.
Some nocturnes are strophic with ornamental variations (Op. 9 No. 2).

Characteristics of the writing

Accompaniment: left-hand arpeggios spanning more than an octave (bass on the strong beat, then an open chord), sustained by the pedal: the harmonic “cloud.”
Melody: long lines, appoggiaturas, irregular groups (flourishes of 7, 11, 22 notes against the regular accompaniment), rubato.
Harmony: chromaticism in the inner voices, secondary dominants, modulations by third, pedals.
Meters: slow 12/8, 6/8, 3/4, 4/4.

Chopin examples

Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 in Eb major (1830–32): 12/8, melody repeated with ever richer ornaments, virtuosic final cadenza: the model of the “bel canto” nocturne.
Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 in Db major: melody doubled in sixths and thirds, broad accompaniment.
Nocturne Op. 48 No. 1 in C minor: dark, declamatory A, chorale-like B in C major that builds to a return of A that is agitated (doppio movimento) with repeated octaves: the nocturne becomes drama.
Nocturne in C# minor, posthumous (Lento con gran espressione): famous also from the movies.

After Chopin

Fauré: 13 nocturnes for piano, modal and nuanced harmony.
Debussy, Nocturnes for orchestra (1897–99: Nuages, Fêtes, Sirènes): the term becomes a timbral impression, no longer a piano form.
Satie, Nocturnes (1919); Lowell Liebermann, contemporary nocturnes.

Example to write (Eb major, 12/8, ♪ = about 120)

Left hand: E♭2 on the first eighth note of each group, then the chord G3–B♭3–E♭4 on the second and third (bass + chord, as in Op. 9 No. 2).
Right hand: 4-bar melody that rises to G5 with an A♭–G appoggiatura and descends; repeat it with a seven-note flourish in place of a half note.
B: move to C minor (vi) and then to Ab (IV) with more agitated repeated chords.
A′: melody with ornaments, coda over a tonic pedal with Eb chords and one last very light descending scale.

For a producer

The nocturne is the model of the piano ballad and of lo-fi/ambient piano: a sustained wide arpeggio (sustain pedal → in the piano roll, long overlapping notes or CC64), melody with rubato (shift the notes by hand by 10–40 ms), long reverb (hall 2.5–3.5 s, pre-delay 20–30 ms) and inner voices that move by semitone. For the piano mix: cut below 40 Hz, and if needed attenuate 2–3 dB around 250–400 Hz if the arpeggio becomes muddy.

Binary, ternary and AABA form, Inner voices and hidden lines, Ornaments, Étude, Prelude, Ballade and free Romantic form.