Nocturne No. 2 in E‑Flat Major

Chopin’s three Nocturnes Op. 9 were his first examples of the genre to be published, appearing in print in 1832, soon after the composer had settled in Paris having left his native Poland. The second of the set is the most enduringly famous, closely modelled on the nocturnes of John Field, with a beautiful, singing melody set over a simple chordal accompaniment that remains constant throughout. The suppleness of Chopin’s sustained melodic line and the cumulative nature of the ornamentation are highly personal fingerprints, while the 12/8 meter, with the accompanying chords in groups of three, gives it the character of a waltz. Each repetition of the theme brings a greater degree of decorative embellishment, culminating in a final fortissimo flurry before dying away to a pianissimo close. Like so much of Chopin’s music, a successful performance relies on a subtle rubato that is to some extent written into the score, allowing the music to breathe naturally without distorting the line. 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.