The Nocturnes of Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849).

Dear friends, good morning! Before get to the point, I would like to share with you how the Nocturne has developed as a creative idea and musical genre.

Used for the first time in the century XVIII, the term referred mainly to works for chamber music, destined to be played in nocturnal social events in the open air. For example the "Notturno in Ré major, K.286", the "Serenata Notturna, K. 239", and the nocturnal "Ecco quel ferent istante K. 436", by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1971)

Here we can hear the recording Serenata Notturna K. 239 in three movements, March, Minueto, and Rondó. Written in 1776 in an interpretation of "Le Concert des Nations" under the regency of Jordi Savall in 2005.

Later the Irish pianist and composer John Field (1782 - 1837) gave other airs for the term, turned the Nocturne in a musical genre itself, and into piano music. He composed a series of 18 Nocturnes between 1812 and 1836, with the first versions under the title Romance.

These pieces were those that influenced Chopin, for the elegance contained in his musical language, creative melodies, and the idiomatic writing that takes advantage of the mechanical development of the instrument. In particular, the support pedal of the English pianos of the Broadwood factory, which allowed Field to expand the accompaniment of the left hand besides Alberti bass.

Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849) wrote a total of 21 Nocturnes, raised to a new level the gender created by Field, giving a new perspective. He printed in his works a greater dramatic intensity, developed a more sophisticated harmonic vocabulary, and a accompanying texture with greater contrapuntal construction.

Chopin wrote an ABA form much more complex than Field, with irregular phrases and a great amount of melismas in its melody, inherited from the operatic cavatinas of Bellini and Donizetti. The influence of the Italian bel canto is a mark in the construction of the ornate melodic line of Frédéric Chopin's Nocturnes. In admiration for the Italian singers, he always advised his students to try to imitate the legato, the portamento of the voice in search of a perfect cantabile, and avoid at all costs a percussive sonority of the instrument.

To begin your performances, Chopin improvised in search of the "blue note," a kind of link between the world of mortals and the sweeping world of art in his expression. By its softness and depth, in spiritism its music is considered a sublimated art.

"La note bleue" (The Blue Note), 1991, is still the name of a French film that tells of the last days of his professional life, and of his romantic relationship with French writer, novelist and literary critic George Sand Another film dedicated to Frédéric is "At Night We Dream" by Cornel Wilde (1945).

The cool thing is that after the use of the term in Mozart, Field's creative spark, the development and popularization of the Nocturnes in Chopin, the genre has consolidated over the generations. Composers such as Franz Liszt, Gabriel Faure, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc, Alexander Scriabin, Benjamin Britten, Aron Copland, Samuel Barber in Brazil Henrique Osvald, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Almeida Prado also wrote their Nocturnes, to honor Chopin, or capture your visions over the night.

Because of the expressive freedom these songs provide the performer, I like to use them to reflect on the musical thinking of the great pianists. In these works it is possible besides listening to the interpreters' breathing, understand how thinks the music, through the quality of the rubatto, and the execution of the expressive signs contained in the score. Nelson Freire, Claudio Arral and Maurizio Pollini are the ones I hear most often, and do you have any favorites? Leave a coment.

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A great hug!
Guilherme Faquetti
March 01, 2018

Reference works

http://sites.ffclrp.usp.br/napcipem/pdf/Livro-III-online.pdf

http://www.adorocinema.com/filmes/filme-6793/

http://www.75anosdecinema.pro.br/1576-CHOPIN,A_NOTA_AZUL(1991)

http://www.acasadoespiritismo.com.br/esponline/semeadoresverdade/12%20frederic%20chopin.htm
http://radiobatuta.com.br/programa/os-noturnos/

https://www.portoalegreemcena.com/single-post/2017/09/18/NOTURNO-PARA-CHOPIN

http://www.direitobrasil.adv.br/arquivospdf/musica/pre12.pdf

http://cultura.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,novo-significado-para-os-noturnos,526818

http://www.oliver.psc.br/compositores/chopin.htm

http://classicos-favoritos.blogspot.com.br/2015/07/chopin-21-noturnos.html

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noturno_(m%C3%BAsica)

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Field