Chopin’s Nocturnes Op. 9/3, Op. 27/1, Op. 62/1, 2

Nocturne in B major, Op. 9, No. 3 is in ABA form with coda. The first section consists of ornamentation (e.g., mm. 17) and a sweeping melody (e.g., mm. 11) The agitato section is very dramatic. The right hand plays both the melody and counter-melody, while the left plays the figurations in triplets. The coda section seems somewhat abrupt owing to the sudden shift of the harmony. In the two measures before the adagio section, there is a wide chord in the left hand (F#-C#-F#-A#-E) and coloratura ornaments displayed in the right.




















Nocturne in C# Minor, Op. 27, No. 1 is also in ABA form with coda. The key alternates between the minor and major third scale degrees (E and E#) in the opening. The left hand sounds restless due to its persistent use of arpeggiated figuration. Overall, this nocturne sounds melancholy. The psychological tension is so strong at times that is completely different from that of Field’s nocturnes.















Music critic Rellstab describes the difference in tone as follows: “When Field smiles, Chopin makes a grinning grimace; where Field sighs, Chopin groans; where Field shrugs his shoulders, Chopin twists his whole body; where Field puts some seasoning into the food, Chopin empties a handful of cayenne pepper. In short, if one holds Field’s charming romances before a distorting, concave mirror, so that every delicate impression becomes a coarse one, one gets Chopin’s work. We implore Mr. Chopin to return to nature”(qtd. in Huneker 143).


Another critic, J. W. Davison, adds, “Commonplace is instinctively avoided in all the works of Chopin- a stale cadence or a trite progression” (qtd. in Huneker 143).


Op. 62, No. 1 in B major also sounds melancholy. Events occurring in Chopin’s life likely inspired this somber tone. While writing the nocturnes, Chopin’s health was deteriorating, as was his relationship with George Sand. The melodic profile is much more ornamented than ever, particularly when the theme recurs in the poco piu lento section. Op. 62, No. 2 was the last nocturne published during Chopin’s lifetime. This piece gives listeners the impression that he is reluctant to leave the world. He died three years later.


From Op. 9 to Op. 62, listeners can perceive a huge change in the way he composed his nocturnes.

John Field's Nocturnes No. 3, 5, and 8

John Field’s Nocturnes No.3, 5, and 8

John Field is considered to be one of the important musical figures who provided paths to the composers of the Romantic era, in particular to the music of Chopin. He is credited as being the first composer to write nocturnes.

He was born in 1782 in Dublin, Ireland. He studied piano under both his grandfather and Tommaso Giordani, an Italian composer of the late eighteenth century. Like Mendelssohn, he made his debut at an early age and premiered his first piano concerto at the age of seventeen. It is interesting that he made connections with Muzio Clementi, with whom he apprenticed. He followed Clementi to many countries, including England, France, Austria, and Russia. He eventually established his concert career in Russia. This is when he wrote Nocturnes No. 3, 5, and 8.

Nocturne No. 3 is in Ab major. The piece is written in a four-part texture, which is different from that of the preceding nocturnes. There seems to a melodic dialogue between the two hands (mm. 9-14, 25-27). While listening to this piece, my ear particularly pays attention to the harmonic changes. The key changes from Bb major to E major, although it is really B major (mm. 28), and later to F minor (mm. 42).









Unlike the third nocturne, the fifth nocturne is in Bb major, we find a gentle melody floating over a serene accompaniment in triplets. The melodic line suggests the role of an Italian singer. Field’s melodic writing may have been influenced by the opera of Rossini, who produced his first opera in 1810, two years before Field wrote this nocturne. It seems that it would have been difficult to develop the pedaling technique when playing the triplets with an unbroken legato because it can easily sound blurred if it is performed inadequately.
The Eighth Nocturne, written in A major, has much more elaborate ornaments of turns and runs in comparison to the nocturnes mentioned above, though the essential character of the original melody is preserved. Also, there are at least three different types of accompaniment supporting the melody: arpeggio, waltz-style, and broken-chord figurations. Measure 41 attracts my interest due to its descending thirds. As I mentioned in past entries, particularly the one about Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capricciso, Clementi is renowned for his double thirds. Here again, I believe that Field was influenced by his teacher; however, these scales in thirds can be divided easily between the two hands.











Without a doubt, John Field’s invention of the musical style of nocturnes is original and innovative. He chose to emphasize mood rather than thematic development in such genres as the sonata, theme and variations, fugue, and so forth. These nocturnes are typically expressive rather than virtuosic and marked with a tone of sweetness and delicacy that evokes an emotion in the listeners.

Clara Schumann's Das Jahr

Fanny Mendelssohn began composing Das Jahr (The Year) in 1841. It was later published in 1989. This is a cycle of pieces based on the months of the year. It resembles a musical diary of the time she and her family spent in Rome. What is interesting about this collection is that each piece is illustrated by her husband, Wilhelm Hensel, who is a painter. Some pictures can be found online; notice that the music was written on colored sheets of paper: (e.g. January, April, June )

There are a few things that strike me while listening to this piece:

I thought the month of January would sound festive because of the beginning of a new year. However, the piece starts out somber and somewhat melancholy. It almost seems as if someone is looking back to the past. The postlude has a similar temperament but with a somewhat delightfully triumphant mood.

According to Toews, there are three traditional Lutheran chorales cited and reworked in this piece: “Christ ist erstanden” in “March” (Lutheran Chorale), “Vom Himmel Hoch da komm ich hier” in “Decmber” (Christmas Chorale), and “Das Alte Jahr Vergangen ist” in the postlude. Seemingly, the cycle appears to give reference to holidays such as Easter, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. This raises the following question: why would she include Bach’s pieces during her trip in Italy?

Clara Schumann's Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann in F# minor, Op. 20

CLARA SCHUMANN’S VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY ROBERT SCHUMANN IN F# MINOR, OP. 20

This opus is a set of variations that Clara Schumann wrote based on a theme that was written by her husband Robert Schumann in 1853. The theme was based on his first Bunte Blatter, Op. 99, and this same theme was later used by Brahms’s as the basis for a set of variations, Op. 9, which was also composed in 1853.

There are a total of seven variations, and a coda, in this piece. The original melody from the theme in Variation 1 is present, except it is supported by a legato triplet accompaniment. Variation 2 has a more lively character than the previous one, complete with repeated chords and some chromaticism. The next variation has some lovely inner voicings and is a chorale. This is reminiscent of the theme in Schumann’s Symphonic Etude, Op. 13 (in my opinion); the theme is stated in the chords played by the left hand, while the right hand plays a scale and arpeggio figuration in triplet rhythm. In Variation 5, the right hand plays the theme in full chords while the left hand plays octave and sale figurations. This variation, while brilliant, sounds somewhat forceful. The sixth variation is a four-voice canon, and in the last variation, the theme is set forth against accompaniment that is divided between the hands. Interestingly, Variation 3 returns and is followed by a coda using the same accompaniment material from Variation 7. According to Todd, the section where Variation 3 returns is taken from her Romance variee, Op. 3:

Overall, this piece is comforting to listen to; in particular, the ear can easily follow the theme. The melodies flow beautifully and incessantly throughout the piece which, while not virtuosic, involves considerable technical skill.

Clara Schumann's 4 Character Pieces, Op. 5

Clara Schumann’s Four Character Pieces, Op. 5

I was really struck by Schumann’s use of rhythm. In some sections, there is a fast dance rhythm. Immediately, I recall the fandango rhythm in Schumann’s Piano Sonata in F# minor, Op. 11 from our past listening assignment. Interestingly, I’ve found that the two pieces were written in the same year, 1835. Could this mean that perhaps Clara is responding to Robert’s sonata since the piece was dedicated to her?

Wanna see the portrait of young Mendelssohn?

I still find this so interesting to look at...gotta post and share this to the class before I get to Fanny Mendelssohn & Clara Schumann...


Young Mendelssohn (beautiful hair, longer than Liszt's!)

Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses, Op. 54

I was amazed to learn that this piece was written six years before Mendelssohn died. He lived such a short life. Sigh. By this time, he had already established his fame in Europe, particularly in the cities of London, Düsseldorf, and Leipzig. Prior to writing this piece, he played an important role in reviving interest in the music of several composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Handel, and Franz Schubert. Like Schumann, Mendelssohn was greatly influenced by Bach, for two reasons. First, his teacher’s taste in music was conservative, with a high regard for Bach’s music. In addition, Mendelsson’s aunt Sarah Levy had a significant connection to the Bach family. She was not only a student of W. F. Bach but also a patron of C.P.E. Bach. She would often play with Carl Freidrich Zelter’s orchestra at the Berlin Singakademie. On top of that, she owned a large collection of Bach family manuscripts. These influences undoubtedly played an important part in forming Mendelssohn’s musical style.

I draw attention to this especially because, at the beginning of the Variations Serieuses, one immediately comes across a style of contrapuntal writing reminiscent of that of Johann Sebastian Bach. The theme is exactly as the title describes: “serious” and solemn. I wonder what led him to write such a melancholy-sounding piece. Prior to this composition, his frame of mind in Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor seems completely different. In my opinion, you gotta love the third movement of that concerto; it’s so bubbly and fun! In theory this might be attributed to the restless rounds of his work. He conducted, organized, taught, composed, and traveled; ultimately, these nonstop activities boil down to an obsession with work. He simply avoided relaxation. This might have been caused by his upbringing, when wealth and success of the family established persistent, laborious endeavor. I went to the library and found that one of his letters to Karl Klingemann, on November 18, 1840, may support this view:

I am living here in as complete quiet and solitude as I could possibly desire…I do not ask Heaven to grant me anything else, and I start every day by enjoying anew my peaceful and monotonous life. I admit that at the beginning of the winter I generally have difficulty avoiding somewhat philistine social gatherings which bloom and thrive here and in which one might be enticed to participate and thus lose much time and pleasure. By now I have pretty well succeeded in getting rid of them…” (Felix Mendelssohn’s Letters, edited by G. Selden-Goth, 297-298).

Whatever the reasons, it is evident that he was somewhat disturbed and thrown off balance by the music he’d written. How he paints his late works is certainly different from his early works. Perhaps this could be a research topic?

According to Radcliffe, Mendelssohn wrote three sets for piano in 1840, but this was the only set published during his lifetime (81). Two other variations are Op. 82 in Eb major and Op. 83 in Bb major. He packed a total of seventeen variations into this approximately eleven-minute work. As mentioned earlier, the theme evokes Baroque keyboard music. Following the two variations, the texture becomes denser, and the rhythm of the accompanying patterns in the alto voice becomes faster. These two variations interest me a lot. Why? They display a technique adopted by Beethoven! This is something I learned from my reading assignments last semester. Beethoven used rhythmic foreshortening obsessively as a means to drive the music forward with intensity. Although I am not quite sure about this, it is evident that Beethoven was greatly influenced in his childhood by the music of Bach, Mozart, and Bach.

The third variation, in my opinion, is a wake-up call with its sudden use of chords and octaves. It certainly woke me up. The next one is a scherzo that relieves the tension of the previous variation. At first I thought the fifth variation had been written by Schumann, because the third beats sound like accented first beats because of the ties and syncopations used in this variation. This compositional technique can also be seen in Schumann’s Sonata in F# major, op. 11! To support my hunch, I found that this piece was written a few years after Mendelssohn became acquainted with Schumann. In fact, Mendelssohn was able to revive Franz Schubert’s music largely because Schumann sent the manuscript of Schubert’s Ninth Symphony to him in 1839. In the next one, I feel I must be imagining things. I just hear Schubert’s Piano Sonata D 760, Op. 15, “Wanderer Fantasy.” Both pieces have very similar ideas: chords and arpeggios. Both Variations 8 and 9 consist of incessant triplet figures and arouse excitement. The tenth variation returns to Baroque style as a reference to the theme. The next one, Variation No. 11, demonstrates a quality of Eusebius in Schumann as it suddenly introduces leaps and syncopated rhythms. Variation No. 12 is extremely rhythmic, with an abundance of 32nd notes, and I could feel my heart racing. The next one I have to say is similar in texture to the third variation of Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13. The tempo slows down in both Variations 14 and 15. It seems as though these two variations are preparing for the action to resume, as it does in Variation 16. The last variation is virtuosic. The theme comes back, except this time, the left hand is playing the tremolo. Seemingly, the purpose of this tremolo is to hint that a climatic event is coming, but this anticipation of thrill does follow through in the music. As expected, the piece reaches a point of exhaustion at the end.
Again, most of these thoughts are just my own theories. Please feel free to disagree with me, of course, with your justification. I am very open to other interpretative ideas.

Mendelssohn's Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14

The year that this was piece composed is unknown. However, according to some sources, the work was composed in 1824, when Mendelssohn was 19 year old, and it was later revised in 1828. This piece may have been a gift for Munich pianist Delphine von Schauroth, as seen in the autograph version. He met Moscheles, with whom he studied piano, in 1824. Prior to this year, he studied piano with Ludwig Berger, a student of Clementi, and he studied composition with Zelter. In addition, he met Weber in 1820. Several thirds and octaves are found in this piece, which may be because this compositional technique is one of Weber’s favorites. Another theory I would like to add is that he may also have been influenced by his teacher, Ludwig Berger, who is a student of Clementi. Dr. Williams mentioned that Clementi’s technical ability to play passages in thirds is well-known and was recognized by Mozart when the Emperor Joseph of Austria arranged a competition between the two.


This piece has the following two parts: an Andante in 4/4/ meter and E major and a Presto in 6/8 meter and E minor. The Andante has a cantabile melody along with repeated left-hand chords. What interests me is that the melody starts on the third beat, not on the first beat. This section soon develops into an embellished, dream-like figure and has a somewhat whimsy character. As the piece passes quickly, not only does the texture thicken, but the speed increases as well. To wrap up the piece, Mendelssohn brings octaves into play using the dynamic marking, fortissimo.

Mendelssohn's Prelude & Fugue in E minor, Op. 35, no.1

Prelude and Fugue in E minor, op. 35, no. 1
Surprisingly, the prelude is written after the fugue. According to Bolm, it was written in 1841. The relentless rhythmic drive is displayed through the non-ceasing arpeggio figures, while the melody is embedded in these figures.












According to Todd, Mendelssohn wrote this fugue at the bedside of his dying friend, August Hanstein, in 1827. The subject in the fugue features “angular sevenths” and “tritones” to describe Hanstein’s illness (172). It starts out slow, and soon, the tempo speeds up and the mood changes from being a melancholy calm to agitated, as the illness progresses. Similar to Rondo Capriccioso, Mendelssohn uses the same compositional technique, using a stentorian voice played in octaves as a means to build intensity before culminating the climactic event. In this case, the chorale, hymn-like section in E major is the crucial point. Although the subject returns in inversion near the end, the piece still concludes in E major.

I have an image of this fugue. Perhaps that will help someone perform:

Kreisleriana, Op. 16

Schumann described this piece in the following words: “The title conveys nothing to any but Germans, Kreisler is one of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s creations, an eccentric, wild and witty conductor” (Chissell 43). This work only took him four days to complete in 1838 and dedicated to Chopin in the score.

There are eight movements in this piece. The first movement Ausserst bewegt(Extremely moving) is in ABA form. Two outer sections are in D minor and the central section is slow in the key of Bb major. appears this time in a more passionate guise. The Intermezzo moves into dark chromaticism that finds its way back to the final appearance of the opening.The G minor belong to Florestan as the Bb major belong to Eusebius. The form of most of the pieces is in ternary or simple rondo form. Many have contrasting episodes. The falling five-note figure still exists especially in no. 1 and 5. The finale no. 8, the ending fades away into distant silence.