Two Nocturnes, Op.48

No.1 in C minor

No.2 in F sharp minor

Unlike most of Chopin’s nocturnes, which float their melodic lines on their flowing left-hand arpeggios, Op.48 No.1 in C minor is remarkable for its gravity. The melody in the right hand is characteristic enough both in its decorative details and its wider curves. The heavy left-hand chords, however, hold it down in uncharacteristic dejection. It seems that the C major march, which follows sotto voce and at a slower tempo, might offer a way out of the situation. But by the end of this middle section, which is engulfed in chromatic scales in fortissimo double octaves, there are no illusions. The opening theme is scored in a quite different way on its return and the initially solemn left-hand chords are now replaced by a more animated triplet texture – though still, in spite of the quiet ending, with no release from the tragedy hanging over the piece.

The F sharp minor Nocturne, which was also written at Nohant in the summer of 1841, is nearer to the John Field prototype. The right-hand melody does indeed float on left-hand arpeggios and with a characteristically poetic kind of melancholy. There is, however, a dramatic intervention in D flat major which, through its heavy chords and its expressive recitative, has the long-term effect of converting the foregoing minor material to a radiant and perfectly timed F sharp major ending.