Nocturne No. 20 in C‑Sharp Minor

Chopin did not call this piece a nocturne, but in essence that is precisely what it is. Headed “Lento con gran espressione” and in the key of C-sharp minor—the same as Beethoven’s "Moonlight" Sonata, with which it shares an evocative atmosphere—it was composed as a wedding gift for Chopin’s older sister, Ludwika, in 1830. The almost immediate contradiction of the minor mode with the major, in the third bar of the main theme, is a particular Chopin trait (see also the Nocturne Op. 27, No. 1 in the same key). The outer section, with its trademark lyrical theme over widespread arpeggios, envelops a livelier middle section where Chopin quotes from two of his own works that were favourites of Ludwika’s: a snippet from the song “Życzenie” (“The Maiden’s Wish”) and a distinctive left-hand figure from the finale of the Piano Concerto No. 2. About Chopin's Nocturnes In the early 19th century, a nocturne was usually a work for voice, often a duet performed to enliven a domestic evening, an evocation of moonlit stillness or dreams of love. The title was first applied to a solo piano work by John Field, an Irish composer living in St Petersburg, who retained the quality of song, albeit without words. Chopin adopted this and, as so often with genres he made his own, elevated it to a new level of individuality and expressive richness. Chopin never lost sight of the form’s vocal origins—the bel canto style of Italian opera is another key influence—and his 21 Nocturnes remain, unlike Field’s, a core part of the piano’s repertoire.