Music TheoryPrint

Frédéric Chopin

Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. 72 (Chopin)

The Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. 72 No. 1, WN 23, was composed by Frédéric Chopin for solo piano in 1826. It was Chopin's first composed nocturne, although it was the nineteenth to be published,

Background#

According to Casimir Wierzyknski, in his book The Life and Death of Chopin, “up until then this form the nocturne had been the exclusive domain of John Field, an Irish-born composer. But his Nocturne in E minor did not satisfy him Chopin and was published only posthumously.”

Form#

An informal analysis of the piece is as follows: *Bar 1: Introduction, first subject. *Bar 2–9: Theme A, in E minor. *Bar 10–17: Variation on theme A, beginning with octaves in the right hand. *Bar 18–22: Interlude *Bar 23–30: Theme B, in B major, consisting of a four bar phrase, repeated with variation, second subject. *Bar 31–38: Heavily ornamented variation on A, in E minor, first subject again. *Bar 39–46: Variation on theme A, beginning with octaves in the right hand. *Bar 47–54: Theme B, modulated to E major, second subject again. *Bar 55–57: Coda in E major.

Use in modern culture#

This piece was played by the actor Jeri Ryan while portraying Seven of Nine at the beginning of the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Human Error”. The piece was also performed by Doc Holiday in the 1993 movie Tombstone and was used as the main theme in The Secret Garden (1987).

      • Recording at musopen.com
Composer
Frédéric Chopin