preview

Reflection Of Frederick Chopin's The Return Of Nocturne

Decent Essays

Alex Heywood
Professor McMullen
11/14/2017
The Return of Nocturne

Music has always had a time and place throughout history. Performances, concerts, and parties are all match with music that is meant to be played in that setting. For example, music that’s played at a church in the morning is very different than the music played in the evening. Professional performances are meant to be played in a style that makes it easiest for the audience to be engulfed by the music. Night music or Nocturne refers to music that is usually “a work of art dealing with evening or night; especially: a dreamy pensive composition for the piano” When musicians hear the word nocturne today, most would first think of Frederick Chopin. Chopin did write an …show more content…

This creates some ambiguity as to what John Field was actually expressing with music and whether he was intentionally creating a movement of sorts.

When Chopin began writing is own Nocturnes, it is unclear whether John Field had a direct impact on the elements of Chopin’s music. “Scholars and commentators have diverged in deciding upon which were the salient features that Chopin adopted from the Fieldian ‘model’ into his own Nocturne style.” These scholars and commentators have identified that Field’s Nocturnes do not have a “constant form” that shows his intentions of creating the new genre. Some even seem more like etudes then specifically Nocturnes. But Chopin is guilty of the same transitional period to Nocturnes. His works were not like Field’s etude form, but they lacked a clear Nocturne “structure and mood”. Field was known for having his Nocturnes sound static which when compared to Chopin where his “Opus 9 pieces alone one finds six fortissimo markings”. Chopin made his nocturnes stand out more to an audience using the flare of dynamics and expression. Chopin shows that just because Nocturnes are night time music there is no reason why they can’t be just as dramatic and intense as any other piece.

The competition within the field of music is perhaps the most strenuous and brutal of all fields throughout history. John Field and

Get Access