The Nocturne No. 20 in C minor, Op. posth., ''Lento con gran espressione'', P 1, No. 16, KKIVa/16, WN 37, is a solo piano piece composed by

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

in 1830 and published in 1870. Chopin dedicated this work to his older sister

Ludwika Chopin Ludwika is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Ludwika Jędrzejewicz (1807–1855), sister of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin *Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł (1667–1695), magnate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Polish-Lith ...

, with the statement: "To my sister Ludwika as an exercise before beginning the study of my second Concerto". First published 21 years after the composer's death, the piece is usually referred to as ''Lento con gran espressione'', from its tempo marking. It is sometimes also called ''

Reminiscence Reminiscence is the act of recollecting past experiences or events. An example of the typical use of reminiscence is when people share their personal stories with others or allows other people to live vicariously through stories of family, frien ...

''. The piece was played by Holocaust survivor

Natalia Karp Natalia Karp (née Weissman; 27 February 1911 – 9 July 2007, aged 96) was a Polish concert pianist and Holocaust survivor. Early life Natalia Karp was born in Kraków, Poland, and began learning piano at the age of four. At the age of thir ...

for the Nazi concentration camp commandant

Amon Goeth Amon may refer to: Mythology * Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra * Aamon, a Goetic demon People Momonym * Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah Given name * Amon G. Carter (1879–1955), American pu ...

, with Goeth being so impressed with the rendition that he spared Karp's life. This was also the piece played by Holocaust survivor and famed Polish pianist

Władysław Szpilman Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a Polish pianist and classical composer of Jewish descent. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the 2002 Roman Polanski film '' The Pianist'', which was based on Szpilman ...

(the central figure of the 2002 Roman Polanski film '' The Pianist'') during the last live broadcast of Polish radio on September 23, 1939 when Warsaw was besieged by the German army. Years later Szpilman also played this piece for German army officer

Wilm Hosenfeld Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld (; 2 May 1895 – 13 August 1952), originally a school teacher, was a German Army officer who by the end of the Second World War had risen to the rank of ''Hauptmann'' (Captain). He helped to hide or rescue several Poli ...

upon their first meeting, though in the corresponding film scene Szpilman plays an abridged version of Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23. Hosenfeld later helped Szpilman hide and provided food to him in the last months of the war.

Musical structure

The piece is marked ''Lento con gran espressione'' and is written in common time. After a quiet introduction, the main

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

starts at bar 5, with the left hand playing broken chords in legato slurs throughout the section, imparting a haunting and continuous quality to the music. The theme then shifts to a dreamy

pianissimo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependin ...

in bar 21, before returning to the original theme in bar 47, and finally ending in

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

. The first two bars of the theme from the middle section (bars 21 and 22), resemble the main theme from the third movement of Chopin's second piano concerto in F minor, which was composed around the same time (1829). The next two bars (bars 23 and 24) resemble the second part of the secondary theme of the first movement from his second piano concerto. The passage in the middle section of the nocturne in time starting in bar 33 resembles the scherzando section of the third movement of the second piano concerto starting in bar 145 in which the left and right hand are playing an octave apart. In bars 58 through 61, there are 4 different tuplets; an 18-tuplet, a 35-tuplet, an 11-tuplet, and a 13-tuplet, all of which run through the E major scale. The piece ends in with a high and low C. Chopin nocturne 20c

References

External links

* {{Chopin nocturnes *Posth 1830 compositions Compositions in C-sharp minor Compositions by Frédéric Chopin published posthumously Music dedicated to family or friends