The Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. 72 No. 1, WN 23, was 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 ...

for solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

in 1826. It was Chopin's first composed

nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

, although it was the nineteenth to be published, in 1855, along with two other early works: a funeral march in C minor and three écossaises. The composition features an unbroken line of quaver triplets in the left hand set against a slow melody of minims, crotchets, quaver duplets and triplets. It consists of 57 bars of common time with the tempo given as ''

Andante Andante may refer to: Arts * Andante (tempo), a moderately slow musical tempo * ''Andante'' (manga), a shōjo manga by Miho Obana * "Andante" (song), a song by Hitomi Yaida * "Andante, Andante", a 1980 song by ABBA from ''Super Trouper'' * ' ...

'', .

Background

According to Casimir Wierzyknski, in his book ''The Life and Death of Chopin'', "up until then this form he nocturnehad been the exclusive domain of

John Field John Field may refer to: *John Field (American football) (1886–1979), American football player and coach *John Field (brigadier) (1899–1974), Australian Army officer *John Field (composer) (1782–1837), Irish composer *John Field (dancer) (192 ...

, an Irish-born composer. But his Nocturne in E minor did not satisfy him

hopin Hopin ( my, ဟိုပင်မြို့; shn, ဝဵင်းႁူဝ်ပၢင်ႇ; also Hobin) is a town in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State, in north-east Myanmar. It is situated on the main Mandalay – Myitkyina railway line, 7 ...

and was published only posthumously."

Form

An informal analysis of the piece is as follows: *Bar 1:

Introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

, first subject. *Bar 2–9: Theme A, in

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

. *Bar 10–17: Variation on theme A, beginning with octaves in the right hand. *Bar 18–22: Interlude *Bar 23–30: Theme B, in B major, consisting of a four bar phrase, repeated with variation, second subject. *Bar 31–38: Heavily ornamented variation on A, in

, first subject again. *Bar 39–46: Variation on theme A, beginning with octaves in the right hand. *Bar 47–54: Theme B, modulated to E major, second subject again. *Bar 55–57: Coda in E major.

Use in modern culture

This piece was played by the actor

Jeri Ryan Jeri Lynn Ryan (née Zimmermann; born February 22, 1968) is an American actress who played the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in '' Star Trek: Voyager'', for which she was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She has reprised ...

while portraying

Seven of Nine Seven of Nine (born Annika Hansen) is a fictional character introduced in the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Portrayed by Jeri Ryan, she is a former Borg drone who joins the crew of the Federation starship ' ...

at the beginning of the '' Star Trek: Voyager'' episode "

Human Error Human error refers to something having been done that was " not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and Moray, N.P. (1991) Human ...

". The piece was also performed by Doc Holiday in the 1993 movie '' Tombstone'' and was used as the main theme in ''

The Secret Garden ''The Secret Garden'' is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in ''The American Magazine'' (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels and ...

'' (1987).

References

External links

* *
Recording at musopen.com
*72 1827 compositions Compositions in E minor Compositions by Frédéric Chopin published posthumously {{classical-composition-stub