Chopin's Nocturnes (Thesis) - Davis Alexander PDF
Chopin's Nocturnes (Thesis) - Davis Alexander PDF
Chopin's Nocturnes (Thesis) - Davis Alexander PDF
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THESIS
MASTER OF MUSIC
By
Denton, Texas
June, 1957
PREFACE
1 The
liturgical use of the term "nocturne" for certain
night services of the Roman Catholic Church has no connection
with the present study.
2 MarionM. Scott, "Haydn," Grove's Dictionary of Music
and Musicians, 5th ed., -edited by Eric Blom (London,New York,
1954), Vol.~IV.
3 George
Grove and Eric Blom, "Nocturne," Grove's Diction-
ar of Music and Musicians, Vol. VI.
iii
viola, and one basso. The three movements: are: Andante,
Allegretto grazioso, Menuetto. Einstein says that K. 286
occupies a place between.Mozart's wind serenade and his early
Italianate symphonies." 4
poser to use the French term "nocturne," and was the inventor
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
P REFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "., 0 iii
"
,S
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . . . . . . . I vi
"
Chapter
.
II. THE NOCTURNES OF FREDERIC CHOPIN . 0 . . . . 0 16
III. CONCLUSIONS - - . . . . . . . 0 0 . 0 . 59
.
.
APPENDIX 1. . . . . . . . . . . .. . 0 0 0 0 61
.
"
APPENDIX II . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 ."
.0 76
.
"
"
"
BILIGRPH .. .. . ,, . . .. S 0 77
,
V
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page
1.. Chopin, Nocturne0. , No.1,. m. 52 . . . . . . 17
2. Chopin, Nocturne _. 9, No. 1, mm. 2-3 . . . . . 18
3. Chopin, Nocturne _om. 9, No. 1, mm.-15-18 . . . . 24
4. Chopin, Nocturne _2g. 9, No. ., mm. 88-89 . . . . 27
5. Chopin, Nocturne Qm. 1.5, No. 1, mm. 23-25 . . . . 30
6. Chopin, Nocturne _. 15, No. 1, mm. 17-24 . . . . 31
7. Chopin, Nocturne 22. 15,No. 2, mm. 1-3 . . . . . 32
8. Chopin, Nocturne _2. 2, No. 2, mm. 42-45 . . . . 38
9. Chopin, Nocturne 22. 27, No. 2, mm. 62-64 . . . . 39
10. Comparison of Field Nocturne No. 5 and Chopin
Nocturne p. 32, No.. 2 . .~.~. . . . . . . . 41
11. Chopin, Nocturne _2. 37, No.. 2, mm. 13-16 . . . . 46
12. Chopin, Nocturne22. 55, No. 2, m. 9 - . . . . . 53
vi
CHAPTER I
1
2
1782. For two or three generations the Fields had been em-
1 "Toimmaso
Giordani, " Baker's . Biographical Dictionary of
Musicians, 4th ed., edited by Theodore Baker (New York, 1940).
Tommaso Giordani was born in Naples,, 1730, and died in Dublin,
1806. He was engaged in 1788 as official composer and orches-
tra director of The New Theatre Royal, Dublin. In 1792 he gave
a Lenten series of "Spiritual Concerts," at one of which John
Field, then eight years old, made his second public appearance
as a pianist. Field was nine years old at this time. The ad-
vertisements said he was eight years old and apparently Baker
accepted their word.
2 CarlFerdinand Pohl, "George Frederick Pinto," Grove's
Dictionary of Music and Musicians: (London, New York, 1954),
Vol. VI. Pinto was born in London, September, 1786, and died
March, 1806. He was a violinist, singer, pianist, and composer.
later dedicated a piano sonata "to my friend John Field."
3 "'Clementi,'
a man in his best years, of an extremely
lively disposition, and very engaging manners, 'liked very
much to converse with me (in French, which from my great
practice in St. Petersburg I soon spoke pretty fluently)'
and often invited me after dinner to play at billiards. In
the evening, I sometimes accompanied him to his large piano-
forte warehouse, where Field was often obliged to play for
hours to display the instruments to the best advantage to the
purchasers. The diary speaks with great satisfaction of the
technical perfection and the 'dreamy melancholy' of that
young artist's execution. I have still in recollection the
figure of the pale, overgrown youth, whom I have never since
seen. When Field, who had outgrown his clothes, placed him-
self at the piano, stretched out his arms over the keyboard,
so that the sleeves shrunk up nearly to the elbows, his whole
figure appeared awkward and stiff in the highest degree; but
4
became very friendly with Hummel.6 During the next six years
Field drifted into such reckless Bohemianism as to neglect
The critics lauded him which was all the more remarkable be-
6 According
to Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians,
4th ed. (New York, 1940), Hummel was Mozart's pupil for two
years.
that the end was at hand. He died January 11, 1837, and was
buried four days later at a public funeral in the Wedensky
Cemetery, Moscow.
that he did invent this type of piece for the piano, and
8 Edward
Dannreuther, in his article "Field," Groves
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., edited by eric
Blom (London, New York, 195),TVol. III, says that we owe
the form, the kind of emotion of the nocturne, and the wide-
spread chord accompaniments of Chopin's Nocturnes, and more,
to Field.
9
Appendix.)
When Field wrote his nocturnes, not only the name was
these nocturnes.
1 2 Franz
Liszt, Preface to John Field, Eighteen Nocturnes
for the Piano (New York, 1893).
1 3 The term "section" will be used throughout this work to
designate the first large portion of a composition, the second
portion, which usually begins approximately a third of the way
through the piece, and if there is one, the third portion
which is usually at least similar in thematic material to the
first portion.
12
Figure 2, p. 18).
cases where the first section recurs at the end of the com-
song form (Nos. 1, 2, 7,L 2, 10, 11, and 17), four in not very
strict rondo form (Nos. 4, 12, 13, and 16), five in two-part
song form (Nos. ,, 8, 14, 15, and 18), one in variation form
(No. 2), and one in sonata allegro form (No. 6).
From the above it can be seen how Field freed form for
mm. 27-50, to Field's Nocturne No.. , ma. 18-21 and mm. 38-41
(see Figure 10, p. 41). Another nocturne by Field that must
in musical history." 1
1
Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization (New York,
1941), p. 814.
2The
following is part of a letter from Chopin to Jan
Bialoblocki in November of 1825: "As for how things go, that
you know from my last letter that-the Barber has been praised
everywhere on the stage; and Freischtz, which has been ex-
pected so long, is to be given. I have done a new polonaise
on the Barber, which is fairly well liked; I think of sending
it to be lithographed tomorrow." Henryk Opienski, collector,
hopin's Letters, translated by E. L. Voynich (New York, 1931),
p. 1.
5 According
to Gerald Abraham, Choin's Musical Style
(Lon-
don, New York, Toronto, 1939), p. 61: That Chopin's melody is
heavily indebted to Bellini's is a commonplace of criticism."
It is impossible to determine whether Chopin had heard any of
Bellini's music before his more "Italianate" traits
a.
were de-
veloped, but of the nocturnes, the pieces in which this trait
is perhaps most apparent, the 2 Nocturnes were written in
1832, one year after Chopin went to Paris. It seems very pos-
sible that he had heard some of Bellini's compositions by this
time.
16
17
melody interesting.
22.. S., No. .,. mm. 10411, and Nocturne _Qp. _l, N~o 2, m. 18.
Another vocal characteristic can be seen in the recitative-
nature more suitable for the piano than it would be for the
voice. Liszt said:
for the voice are found in O. 62, No. l,, m.. 26, and Op. A
,
No. 2, m. 51.
As has been stated, Chopin. made use of passing notes and
and a passing note D in the bass keep the E flat chord from
ment in the left hand to support the right hand melodic line.
sustains the root as a pedal in the bass, while the upper notes
(.p. 2, No. 2; _p. 2, Nos. 1 and 1; and _.. 15, No. 1).
A point of harmonic interest is the fact that seven of
the eight nocturnes in minor end on the major triad (the so-
(_2. 15, No. 2; _2. 27, No. 1; andQ. 55, No. 1) ; two are
in the tonic minor key (ap. 9, No. ; p. 15, No. 1); two
are in the relative minor (op. 2, No. 2--but the second
half of the middle section is raised a half-step to F sharp
minor; and OD. 62, No. 2); one is in the tonic major (P. 48,
No. 1), and four cannot be classified in a group. Of these
four, the middle section of O22. , No. 1 is in the key a
major third away; in a. 48, No. 2, an augmented third away;
in 2g. 7, No. 2, the contrasting material occurs twice
separately, first in the subdominant and then, after a recur-
8A
"third-related" key was often chosen by nineteenth
century composers who were striving to get away from dominant,
subdominant, and relative major (or minor), as contrasting
keys. An example of this can be seen in Beethoven's last
sonata, Op. 11;1, m. 50.
22
boy (_2. 72, No.1, and the C minor Nocturne not available in
climactic to these.
Among the nocturnes are some of Chopin's best known com-
piece.
The melody of the first section is one of haunting
beauty, and immediately creates a mood of melancholy. It
has a simple beauty that has no trace of morbid sadness such
melody.
In this nocturne can be seen an excellent example of
1 1 Herbert
Weinstock, Chopin: The Man and His Music
(New York, 1949), p. 189..
25
again and again, and by knowing when it has been used to the
of the first, rather than having a new musical idea (see ante
accompaniment.
The B major Nocturne, Q . 9, No. 1, is much longer than
the two previous nocturnes. It is so long that it does not
hold together well and wears its material thin with the long,
the tonic minor, 14 B minor, and the cross rhythm pattern helps
RySt ato oo
This effect
144
is increased by the rapid changes of tonality,
which are never dwelt upon long enough to be interpreted as
F 4
See Chopin's Prelude, No. 15 (D flat major)--middle
section in enharmonic tonic minorbeC sharp).
28
editor of the Iris, when he heard the Trois Nocturnes, _22. ,2,
in Vienna in 1833.
writing.
Codog
the right hand and add strength to the melodic line. In this
31
imn
[1
[In J rr
T
I I '"r
Ab ooo An 0
Ap
FT 1!
164J'l m m.M
T
-iI IL
1
k 44 L
{ I
t.
U l
-5
AdskI-OM a4L 4
&
1
i
a
.er4m-2 I i f 4F2
L, :
-x T
L *i+*o. (J:10
.
these the first note in the piece which is not native to the
2 0 Abraham,
Chopin' s Musical Style, p. 61.
fioriture, wide leaps in the melody, and slight harmonic
coda.
The third nocturne, G minor, of this opus is unusual in
21
Howard A. Murphy, Form in Music for the Listener
2nd ed. (Camden, 1945, 194WT.
2 2 Weinstock,
Chopin: The Man and His Music, p. 202.
2 3 Edgar
Stillman Kelley, Chopin the Composer (New York,
Boston, 1913), p. 78.
34
anguish.
from two quarter notes (a chord and bass note) and a rest.
hear." 2 6
the motion of the sea. Until the twentieth measure only the
accompaniment and a single-voiced melody are heard. Here a
third voice enters and shares a small part of the melodic
interest.
The middle section of this ternary form is marked pix
all the original material back to the key and an exact (though
of this rather moody and stormy piece, and increases the beauty
and effectiveness of the coda. This nocturne is a small master-
piece in the way it is conceived and presented. Of it Hadden
says:
The finest of all the Chopin bunch to my mind, is the
grand C sharp minor (Op. 27, No. 1). Kleczynski sees
in it "a description of a calm night at Venice, where,
after a scene of murder, the sea closes over a corpse
and continues to serve as a mirror to the moonlight.2 9
qq'*4b r,7
qvlw F
via i I U -lF I
91111
14=66k"
-6 Vow qpD
Am-
fC 4Z -
-
Aft m416
-ow I ONO
annununnemanum-
while the right hand keeps the same melodic and rhythmic
the climax of the nocturne, and back into the original theme.
The use of the semitonal side-slip to temporarily break
*:
711
3 0 Robert
Schumann, On Music and Musicians, translated by
Paul Rosenfield, ed. by Konrad Wolff (New York, 1946), p. 137.
40
students.31
theme are heard often throughout the piece, the original first
these fermatas, and they do not give the dramatic effect one
would suppose.
The coda is perhaps the most interesting part of the
ul f f f
" . f f f
"
f f
"
a. Field, Nocturne No. !, mm. 18-19
h I T
-ct ME in l1w
!T71
A A Wi 14AL
"
lift
"
"
-11,11111111111110
"----
"
A Aar
i W-M
summer of 1839 leaves room for doubt that both were written in
gives the impression that the _. }_, No. 1 had been com-
posed before the summer of 1839, probably in 1838, and that
"Les Soupirs," with the result that during his English and
Scottish visit of 1848 Chopin was often invited by ladies to
nocturnes.
The whole first section consists of the sixteen-measure
35
Niecks, op, ci2t., II,, 62.
35Weinstock, op. cit.., p. 243.
44
section.
There is comparatively little ornamentation in this
3 6 Adolf
Gutmann, one of Chopin' s most quoted students,
played the middle section at a faster tempo and said that
Chopin had forgotten to insert an instruction for a more
rapid tempo.. Niecks, , . it., II, 264.
37 "This music
recalls the nondiscontinuous melody of
the Arabian clarinet which never allows us to feel the mo-
ment when the musician takes a fresh breath. There are no
longer any periods or commas, and that is why I cannot ap-
prove the 'organ points' which certain ill-advised editors
and performers have added in the Chorald of the Nocturne in
G minor, for the satisfaction of fools. . . ." On another
page, Gide prints a letter from Edouard Ganche concerning
this quote, January 2, 1932, "Nocturne in G minor. I must
say that the organ points are Chopin's, and this one time,
if I may say so, it is not possible to incriminate the re-
visers. Andre Gide, Notes on Chopin, translated by Bernard
Frechtman (New York, 1949), pp. 41-42, 123.
45
double notes, largely thirds and sixths (see p. 12). The out-
standing characteristic of this nocturne is in the many im-
plied key changes (see footnote 16, p. 14). Of particular
audible interest is the modulation to F major (see Figure 11
nal key.
'ILA
Amok
lp
PF OW
AdL
and
n Y\ N
I
w#4r
the piece.
There is hardly a melodic ornamental device used in the
at that time:
It prevents the texture from seeming too thin between the low
the first section. The melody is the same, the same sombre
mood is again expressed, but this time, has a more agitated
46
Porte, o. cit., pp. 118-119.
50
admirable.
The second nocturne of this opus, in F sharp minor,
one of eight measures in the same style, and then, the whole
twenty-six measures (much the same as in Nocturne Q. 2,
No. 1), complete with introduction, with slight variation,
is repeated.
The second section is of a dramatic nature and contrasts
to many ears." 4 8
owed the fact that the last months of his life were not
spent in poverty. 5 1
produces:
54
52 Niecks,
2p. cit., II, 265-266.
5 3 weinstock,
op. cit., pp. 282-283.
55
there are the facts that the spacing of the parts is compara-
tively close, and that for the most part, the musical material
of this section is in and below the middle register of the
the second section. After nine measures this breaks off and
ber.54
Several of the traits that were characteristic of Field's
Nocturne _.. 72
The Nocturne 0.. '2 (No. 2?), in C minor, like the Nc-
turne _..72, No. 1, was composed in 1817. It was published
in Poland in 1938. According to Weinstock it is no longer
full.5 5
55
Weinstock, _oj. i. , p. 15.
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSIONS
the name occurred in secular music toward the end of the eight-
his great Nocturne Qp. 48, No. 1, in C minor. This piece re-
tains little of Field's influence that can readily be recog-
name nor the style has been much cultivated by subsequent com-
chordal texture.
59
60
the cultivation of the nocturne (at least under that name) can
only be called sporadic. We have here, in fact, an interesting
Preface
Irishmen have been frequently taunted with being
incuriosi suorum, and, in the case of John Field of Dub-
lin, the taunt is not unmerited. Eighty-three years have
passed since this wonderful composer, pianist, and inven-
tor was laid at rest in Moscow and yet he has not found
an Irish biographer. Had he been an Englishman he would
certainly have had his biography published, but being a
mere Irishman" his merits have been relegated to brief
and inadequate-notices in the Dictionary of National Bi-
ography and in the Dictionary of Music andMusicians.
Yet, there are monographs on Field in French, Italian,
German, Flemish, Danish, and Russian, all of which, how-
ever, give the credit of his training to Clementi, where-
as he had been known as a musical prodigy in Dublin, and
had made several public appearances at the Rotunda before
going to London. As recently as 1911 a German memoir of
Field was presented as a thesis for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy in the University of Leipzig by Heinrich
Dessauer, and was published at Langensalza in 1912. By
contrast, one solitary line is devoted to him in Stanford
and Forsyth' s oHistory
of Music (1916), and that solitary
line in reference to "Rusian music. Here is the pre-
cious gem: "Glinka was a pupil of the Englishman Field,
an enthusiastic patriot, and an untiring student of
Russian folk-music:"
Recent writers-have endeavoured to claim Chopin as
the inventor of the Nocturne, and the originator of the
enre in the matter of the extended accompaniment of acat-
Uered chords and graceful embellishments of melody, with
wonderful arpeggio and pedal effects; but it is admitted
by all the French and German critics that the Nocturne,
and the well-known developments in pianoforte playing,
61
62
W. H. Grattan Flood
Enniscorthy
Michaelmas, 1920
63
his case the style is the man, His music is the music of
the fairies."
Equally-brilliant was the reception accorded to Field
at the Pape Salon on June 20, and on February 3, 1833.
Regarding these latter concerts Joseph d'Ortigue wrote a
glowing account: "Never did the beautiful Salons of M.
Pape present a more numerous and a more brilliant appear-
ance than at Field's second Concert. Field was ably as-
sisted by Drouet and Baillot,. but his own playing of the
four items was delightful, although the impression it
gave me was not comparable to that which I had experi-
enced at the Conservatoire."
In the Spring and Summer of 1833 Field astonished
various European centres by his virtuosity, including
Brussels, Toulouse, Marseilles and Lyons. At Brussels
he was announced as "Chapel Master of the Emperor of
Russia and celebrated Pianist." His concert of Febru-
ary 18, as reported in Le Belg was a huge success, and
he subsequently gave a more select concert, which real-
ised 1,200 francs. At Toulouse the amateurs and pro-
fessionals thronged to the Athenaeum, and were delighted
with the Irish pianist. His selections included a Con-
certo, a Rondo, and a Polonaise, and he was given a triple
recall.. At Marseilles, in August, a similar triumph a-
waited him, and he was styled "the Racine of the Piano."
His Lyons reception was even more cordial, and the audii
ence did not know what to admire the most, that is to say
whether his compositions or the playing of them was the
more remarkable.
The Journal de Geneve, of September 4, announced the
arrival of Field in witzerland in the most complimentary
terms. His concert at Geneva on September 30, in the
Salle de Casino, was most brilliant, and he had the as-
sistance of Domange and Sabon, with M. Bloc as leader of
the orchestra. His selections included his Concerto No. 6,
Nocturne in A, Rondo, and Pastorale and Rondo (Midi), with
a quartet accompaniment.. By request he gave a repetition
performance on October 14.
At Milan, in November and December, the leading Ital-
ian critics lauded Field as an incomparable genius. From
Milan Field wrote to Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig, on
November 20, offering them his Concerto No. 7, on the
same terms as No. 6--an offer which was accepted.
Florence applauded Field, as also did the music-
loving centres of Venice and Naples. However, the strain
of over a year's tour proved too much for a neurotic man
of 52, and he fell seriously ill at Naples in 1834.
This "blaze of triumph (as Bunn would write), for
over a year, as attested by the Continental press, gives
the lie to the statements of English writers who have not
72
JOHN FIELD
2. 2, No. 1 B major
No. 2 A flat major
76
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
77
78
Huneker, James, Chopin The Man and His Music, New York,
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900.
Porte, John F., Chopin, The Composer and His Music, London,
William Reeves Bookseller, Ltd., 1935.
Weinstock, Herbert, Chopin The Man and His Music, New York,
Alfred A. Knopf, 1949.
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