Chopin Nocturnes
21 nocturnes, free to read, hear and print, in the composer's own order.
Open the sheet music libraryChopin wrote twenty-one nocturnes across his whole life, from the three of Op. 9 he published at twenty-two to the pair of Op. 62 written three years before he died. He took the name and the idea from the Irish composer John Field: a singing melody in the right hand, floating over wide, rocking chords in the left, as though an opera singer had been given to the piano.
They are numbered here in the usual order, by opus, with the two published after his death at the end. The best known are Op. 9 No. 2 in E flat and the C sharp minor nocturne, the one from the film The Pianist. Every one plays back at any speed, and most of them are gentler than their reputation, slow pieces where the difficulty is in making the melody sing.
About the pieces
Nocturne in B♭ minor
The first nocturne Chopin published, at twenty-one: darker and stranger than its famous sibling, with runs that spill over the beat like ink.
Nocturne in E♭
The nocturne, a song for the night, was invented by John Field, but Chopin made it his own at twenty with this one. It is an aria without a singer: the right hand is a voice, complete with breaths and embellishments that grow more elaborate each time the tune returns.
Nocturne in B major, Op. 9 No. 3
The third of Chopin's first published set of nocturnes, Op. 9, and the least often played of the three.
Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15 No. 3
The last of the Op. 15 nocturnes begins like a slow, sad mazurka and moves into a quiet chorale marked religioso.
Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1
Wide rolling arpeggios in the left hand support a bleak, lonely melody, then the music gathers into a stormy central section before the opening returns. It ends, unexpectedly, in C sharp major.
Nocturne in D-Flat Major Op. 27 No. 2
The second of the Op. 27 pair, and one of the nocturnes where the right hand's decoration grows more elaborate each time the tune comes back.
Nocturne in B major, Op. 32 No. 1
The Op. 32 nocturnes were published in 1837.
Nocturne in A-flat major, Op. 32 No. 2
After two quiet opening chords, a long melody unfolds over a flowing left hand. The middle section grows restless and louder before the calm song returns.
Nocturne in G minor, Op. 37 No. 1
The Op. 37 nocturnes were published in 1840.
Nocturne in G major, Op. 37 No. 2
A lilting nocturne in 6/8, full of gliding thirds and sixths in the right hand like a boat on the water. A slower, song-like theme interrupts twice before the gliding returns.
Nocturne in C minor Op. 48 No. 1
The most severe of the nocturnes: it begins as a funeral procession, turns into a chorale, and ends in a storm of octaves.
Nocturne in F-sharp minor, Op. 48 No. 2
Published in 1841 alongside the famous C minor nocturne, this is its quieter companion: a flowing, murmuring melody with a slower central section in D flat major.
Nocturne in F minor, Op. 55 No. 1
Chopin dedicated the Op. 55 nocturnes to his Scottish pupil Jane Stirling.
Nocturne in B major, Op. 62 No. 1
Among the last nocturnes Chopin published, in 1846. When the opening melody returns near the end it is dressed in long, shimmering trills, one of the most beautiful passages in his late music.
Nocturne in E major, Op. 62 No. 2
The final nocturne Chopin published in his lifetime has a warm, calm opening and a more restless, contrapuntal middle section where several voices move together.
Nocturne No. 20 in C♯ minor
Chopin wrote this for his elder sister Ludwika and never published it: it appeared only after his death. A century and a half later it walked into films and concert halls and became many people's first Chopin: grief, dressed with astonishing elegance.