What is a Nocturne?

[Acciacatura]

What is a Nocturne? Of all the forms, this is one I have yet to still learn.

Thanks

[Boneman]

Here you are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturne

[stevel]

Originally Posted by Acciacatura

What is a Nocturne? Of all the forms, this is one I have yet to still learn.

Thanks

Nocturne simply means night piece. The term is first used (and even coined by?) John Field. Chopin is the one who is most associated with the piece type though.

It's not a "form". It's like saying an Etude is a form. Nocturnes and Etudes are better described as "types" of pieces, and let Form refer to the structure of the music.

However, I will say that some Forms occur so commonly in a particular Type of music that they become the expected norm - for instance, Sonatas so typically have a First Movement that has a particular Form that it became known as First Movement Form, Sonata First Movement Form, or, because the first movement of a Sonata is typically an Allegro, Sonata Allegro Form or SAF, or simply nowadays, "Sonata Form".

However however, the first movement of a Sonata is not ALWAYS this form, not is Sonata Form itself ALWAYS exactly the same.

If you're interested in exploring Nocturnes, I would look at both the Characteristics that "define" the Type (for instance, arpeggiated accompaniments, often compound meter, etc.) in addition to what Forms are frequently used. You will find largely ternary forms but exceptions might be of the most interest. You might also want to investigate post-Chopin Nocturnes and see how composers treated those, and you may also want to investigate other "predecessors" to "night music". Eine Kliene Nachtmusik maybe :-). Serenades, Divertimenti, Cassations and so forth all have "outdoor" or "night" connotations - so the concept was not new to Field.

Best,
Steve

[Peter Bolton]

Steve is quite right, and as a type the nocturne has a tendency towards contemplative sounds, hence the triplet arpeggios. Not specifically sad though, sometimes quite skittish, even in Chopin's hands. One of Field's Nocturnes is entitled 'Noontide', the reason being that in St Petersburg in mid-winter it dark practically the whole day through. The piece ends with the clock striking twelve. Another piece that would qualify as a nocturne is the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
At one time, Augener produced two volumes entitled 'Nocturne Albums', out of print long ago but worth looking for in second hand music shops.

[Acciacatura]

Thanks for the information Steve and Peter. Its much appreciated.

It's not a "form". It's like saying an Etude is a form. Nocturnes and Etudes are better described as "types" of pieces, and let Form refer to the structure of the music.

I see. I think the term form and "types" of pieces often get confused. Is a fugue a form or a type of piece?

(Boneman - I do appreciate you getting a link for me but I'm not a great fan of wikipedia. I think in a place like this, personalised information (as apposed to text book/encyclopedia) is more usefull )

Thanks all

[ttw]

Originally Posted by Acciacatura

Thanks for the information Steve and Peter. Its much appreciated.



I see. I think the term form and "types" of pieces often get confused. Is a fugue a form or a type of piece?

(Boneman - I do appreciate you getting a link for me but I'm not a great fan of wikipedia. I think in a place like this, personalised information (as apposed to text book/encyclopedia) is more usefull )

Thanks all

A fugue is more a "texture" or "procedure" than either a form or type of piece. Bach put fugues everywhere (choruses, gigues, stand alone fugues.) Beethoven incorporated fugues into sonatas (mostly in the development section.)

[stevel]

I see. I think the term form and "types" of pieces often get confused. Is a fugue a form or a type of piece?

Fugue is one of those multi-types, because it's rather specific.

Fugue is really a method of construction. So a type.
But, Fugues so commonly exhibit the same type of form, that we might say there is a "Fugue form" (but that's stretching it because you only use FF to write Fugues - not like Sonata Allegro which could be used for the non-Allegro movement of am Orchestral Overture).

The form of a Fugue is tri-partite - that is, there are 3 sections, exposition, middle section, and closing section. Like SAF, the middle section is often developmental in nature, and the closing section is "recapitulative" in nature, where the original key and subject returns (and sometimes even quite literally, the return is a repeat of the begginning - at least for a few bars). But the form fugue uses is not really like SAF where there's typically a Primary and Secondary theme.

It's not really apporpriate to call a Fugue Ternary form either, because Ternary is A B A. Fugue is so specialized that those divisions can be meaningless. Furthermore, many fugues are more like A B C for the three sections, and some are A A A with key centers and the way parts enter being the only guideposts.

Back to fugue as a method - this is why there are Fugato and Fughetta pieces, and Fugal sections as parts of other works. It's really the process of imitation at the tonic and dominant levels and subsequent importance of the material as a unifying element that makes fugues fugues. So really, they're more a specialized from of imitation and counterpoint rather than a form themself.

But of course, as always, you'll hear many people say "this is in the form of a Fugue". - they're just using the term generically though.

Steve

[Ron Ofir]

this is why there are Fugato and Fughetta pieces, and Fugal sections as parts of other works.

According to Wikipedia, a Fugato is a Fugal section inside a work that isn't a Fugue. If that is correct, doesn't the second part of the sentence just describe a Fugato?

[stevel]

Originally Posted by Ron Ofir

According to Wikipedia, a Fugato is a Fugal section inside a work that isn't a Fugue. If that is correct, doesn't the second part of the sentence just describe a Fugato?

Fugato is usually reserved to identify the "location" within a work. For instance, if you had a work that had three sections: Grave, Allegro, and Maestoso. We might say "let's pick it up at the Maestoso". Likewise, many composers marked "Fugato" similar to "Maestoso" - not a tempo indication but a description of the type of section that was happening - the section that's like a fugue, the section that's majestic, etc.

So it is a Fugal Section, section here meaning identifiable as having a start and end, but not a "true" fugue.

A Fugal Section however is a section that not identifiable as a unit - i.e. if part of the Allegro were fugal in nature, we would call it the Allegro section, and we'd say that this is a fugal section thereof.

Nonetheless, people will use the term Fugato just to blanketly apply to this as well - just as some people might call the Fugato proper a "fugue" in a general sense (usually they mean it's not a fugue proper, but composed using fugal principles).

Fughetta usually means "small fugue", but people also use this to refer to what I "defined" as a Fugal section above.

So there's a lot of crossover with these terms. I think what needs to be clear is whether it's a "true" fugue, part of a larger work, a section of a larger work, or simply fugue-like in compositional procedures.

Best,
Steve