Two Nocturnes, Op .27

No.1 in C sharp minor

No.2 in D flat major

Of the two Nocturnes written in 1835 for the Countess d’Apponyi, pianists tend to prefer the second in D flat major. The first in C sharp minor is particularly interesting, however, for the peculiarly personal use Chopin makes of a common harmonic device - left-hand C sharp arpeggios omitting the third of the triad and a right-hand melody equivocating poignantly between the notes E and E sharp. Any of Chopin’s contemporaries could have done it but only a composer inspired by the sound of the piano - by the contrast in colour between the dark shadow of the left-hand arpeggios and the bright line of the melodic voice - could have made anything as beautiful of it. In the end, incidentally the decision is made in favour of C sharp major, but only after and long and agitated middle section.

The attraction of the D flat major Nocturne is, above all, its highly decorative passages of purely pianistic figuration. It is also a masterful example of continuous melodic development, uninterrupted by a contrasting middle section, effortlessly sustained in the right hand over a regular arpeggio in the left.