Nocturne No 6 in D flat major Op 63 (1894)

Asked where he found the inspiration for his wonderfully atmospheric Nocturne in D flat major, Fauré replied “In the Simplon Tunnel.” Since the piece was written eleven years before the Simplon Tunnel was open we can only assume that it was a silly answer to a question which, though not entirely silly, was entirely superfluous. While by no means all of Fauré’s thirteen Nocturnes are actually nocturnal in character, this one - written at the composer’s regular country retreat near Bougival in August 1894 - surely breathes the scented air and reflects the stars of a warm summer night.

Longer than any of Chopin’s Nocturnes, it is no less spontaneous in its continuity and even more liberated in construction. Its three main themes in three different tempi - the serene Adagio at the beginning, the charming Allegretto molto moderato, the transfigured Allegro moderato in the middle - have no evident relationship with each other. Yet, by means of fragmentary thematic echoes between the sections and a passionate development that mingles the themes together and ends with an emphatic declaration of the Adagio material in heavy left-hand octaves, the unity of the piece is sealed even before the restoration of the opening tranquillity in the closing bars.