Concert Artist - Johannes Brams

Chopin’s known aversion to appearing in public as a solo pianist himself did not dampen his enthusiasm for attending concerts given by other musicians of the day. Towards the end of 1832 John Field (1782-1837) came to Paris and gave two concerts. Chopin, who had long desired to hear the Irishman and had been flattered by being compared to him, was extremely disappointed when he at last made his acquaintance. We may gather what Chopin’s reaction had been from a letter written by one of his friends, Edouard Wolff, to Joseph Nowakowski. Wolff writes:

Chopin and you are right, he plays like a beginner; no speed, no elegance, and he is incapable of executing difficulties. In a word, feeble, But he has his merits; steady German playing, easy-going, one, two, three….....He’s an agreeable and decent fellow.

This is the only evidence we have of Chopin’s judgement on John Field as a pianist, but, against that, it is quite certain that he had a high regard for him as a composer. The Italian term, Notturno, is a genre descending from the early classical period and is related in form to the orchestral divertimento. John Field was the undoubted originator of the idea of using the title ‘Nocturne’ and he published a popular series of small-scaled elegiac pieces of a distinctly salon nature. Chopin adopted the title and Field’s general idea but developed the form into something very different in scope and content from his original model. Apart from his earliest efforts, the famous Nocturne in E flat being among them, Chopin’s Nocturnes belong to a world unknown to the easy-going and agreeable Field. The originality of the piano style, the distinction of melody together with the wealth of harmonic inventiveness leaves the Irish composer far behind. A wide gulf separates Field’s pleasant pieces from the power and emotions such as we find in Chopin’s Nocturnes in C sharp minor, Op.27 and the Nocturne in C minor, Op.48. We must admit that, from time to time, in Chopin’s output of 21 Nocturnes, we find the odd echo of Field’s pioneering work. The middle section of the Nocturne in A flat, Op.32 No.2 provides a fair illustration of such reminiscence. The stylistic resemblances between the Nocturnes of the two composers remain solely in their structure and the emphasis on the melodic line. In every other respect the differences are quite fundamental. Of course, we have to remember Chopin’s great affection for Italian music. As a youth, whilst he was still in Warsaw, he had the opportunity of hearing many Italian operas and the leading singers of his day. The legacy of this early influence can be found scattered throughout Chopin’s complete output as a composer. He had a particular admiration for Bellini (1801-1835), later becoming quite friendly with him, and a high regard for Rossini.

Joyce Hatto, in her early twenties, is still a young pianist with a particular, and proven, feeling for Chopin. She is unusual, rather unique among English pianists, in understanding the darker side of the composer. She does not strive for pretty effects and her projection of Chopin as a ‘big’ composer sets her aside from most of her contemporaries. Her often quite astonishingly ample technique always allows her additional scope in conveying her interpretive views. It is a considerable achievement of will that she never allows her own forceful personality to intrude on that of the composer. In her performance of the Field Nocturnes she never made the mistake of ‘anticipating’ what was known to be on the horizon in Chopin. She allowed Field his moment in time - no mean feat and a revelatory one. When writing of the “darker side” I was reminded of Jozef Sikorski’s observation in discussing the Nocturnes and written just after the death of the composer in 1849. “whereas Chopin reveals the dark side of the soul, taking us into the vague and obscure world of the spirits in which nocturnal characters mysteriously rise up and then vanish, and in which the listener, drawn into the land of dreams, asks himself, after the final sounds have died away, whether it was an illusion or reality”.

Eighteen Nocturnes were actually published by Chopin (Field had published a similar number) and there are three early works that appeared posthumously. There is nothing remarkable in the form of these pieces: generally speaking they employ the simple formula ‘A – B- A’ (shortened), the middle section being in quick tempo and dramatic in character. The melody is “sung” by the right hand against a weaving arpeggio accompaniment. Chopin’s instinct led him to provide the ideal accompaniment for each different melody. There is usually a coda and, for this moment, the composer often reserves some of his most enchanting or dramatic touches.

The Nocturne in C minor, Op.Posth. dates from 1837 and was probably intended by the composer to be included with those of Op.32. It is sweet enough but Chopin rejected it and the piece remained unpublished for a hundred years. It was eventually rediscovered and published in Warsaw in 1938. The Nocturne in E minor, Op.72 dates from 1827 and is an accomplished and compelling piece for a young composer just past his seventeenth birthday. It certainly maps out the direction in which Chopin was to travel just a few years later. The Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op.Posth dates from the Spring of 1830. It was published first by Leitgeber in Posńan in 1875. The piece, clearly of nocturnal character, was not named as such by the young composer. The manuscript is simply designated ‘Lento con gran espressione’ originally there existed four different autograph manuscripts. Sadly, one of these has been lost, but the manuscript in my own possession has been studied by Miss Hatto. The piece contains quotations from the composer’s own Concerto in F minor and his song “The Wish”. The early Nocturnes can be charming, anticipatory and, in the case of the celebrated Nocturne in E flat, popular. However, greater and more momentous works were soon to flow.

In the Nocturnes of Op.9 it is the first and third that are musically the most interesting but it is the second that the public wishes to hear. The first of them, the Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9 No.1, is distinctive for its early ornamentation and its carefully balanced proportions. The celebrated Nocturne in E flat, Op.9 No.2 made an immediate impact and money for both the composer and his publishers. It is sometimes mentioned that there are certain similarities to a Field Nocturne in the same key but the probability is that both composers owed a debt to the “Casta Diva” aria from Bellini’s Norma. The Nocturne in B Major, Op.9 No.3, the final piece in the group, is in a faster tempo with an agitated and passionate middle section. It is considerably finer than either of its counterparts. Particular attention should be paid to Chopin’s delicate ornamentation.

On reaching the Op.15 set we can see that Chopin’s independence from his earlier models is more clearly marked. In the Nocturne in F Major, Op.15 No.1 he creates a feeling of unearthly remoteness by an imaginative lay-out of melody and accompaniment in the opening andante cantabile and this is abruptly contrasted with the violence of the middle section in the minor. The Nocturne in F sharp major, Op.15 No.2 takes its character from its key, which lends it a certain lusciousness. Passions here are certainly raised but we are still in the salon. The detail is very beautiful and the fioriture and vocal effects are finely drawn. I confess that the following Nocturne in G minor, Op.15 No.3 is not a favourite of mine. The opening, marked languido e rubato, seems to lose its way. Chopin has been reported as telling a student that piece is a representation of the tragedy of Hamlet. Chopin, as a rule, avoided programmatic titles but we do know he used descriptive imagery to assist his students to understand his wishes in matters of interpretation. It is possible, although I remain unconvinced, that the piece is a reflection on the play.

We now arrive at two perfect specimens of the genre, sufficient in themselves to establish Chopin’s title in this domain. In the Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op.27 No.1, the uneasy, hesitant melody, floating over an accompaniment of extraordinary depth, evokes a unique picture of night and its mysteries. Into this obscurity Chopin introduces a dramatic episode and builds it up skilfully to an irresistible climax. The companion Nocturne is rounded off by a coda (in the major) of ideally poetic effect. The Nocturne in D flat major, Op.27 No.2 is in complete contrast; no brooding air in this music. It is serenely lyrical and is considered by many writers to be the finest of all the nocturnes. True, there is a touch of sentimentality but not languishingly so. The sixteen bar coda provides a further example of Chopin’s gift of producing new sounding effects by essentially simple means.

In the two Nocturnes of Op.32 Chopin has taken a pause in his forward development of the form. The Nocturne in B Major, Op.32 No.1 presents us with an unexpectedly melodramatic coda. The romance has been interrupted and the troubadour silenced. One commentator, moved by the drama, observed “The love-song found its end in blood and death” after which it only remains to observe that the piece ends on a minor chord and not the major as found in many editions. The Nocturne in A flat, Op.32 No.2 begins and ends with a short hymn-like phrase. Rather like the opening and closing of a book. The story flows along well enough if the pianist is able to hold the line and not be submerged by the agitato middle section.

The dark and brooding Nocturne in G minor, Op.37 No.1 was written at Nohant. Frederick Niecks, Chopin’s biographer, found in this work “a treacherous atmosphere that bewitches and unmans” certainly this darkness did not reflect the surrounding circumstances of the composer. It was written in one of the few happy and stable periods in his life brought about by his relationship with George Sand living with her at her country residence. For richness of modulation the Nocturne in G Major, Op.37 No.2 is quite outstanding. Chopin’s principal means of expression here consists in presenting his themes in a great variety of keys. One colour follows another in a rapid but orderly succession. Interestingly, in this piece of 140 bars, only twenty are actually in G Major! When these two Nocturnes were published in London they appeared with the fanciful title ‘Les Soupirs’ so that Chopin, touring in England and Scotland in 1848, was often to play his “second sigh”.

To find the Nocturne in C minor, Op.48 No.1 described as a Nocturne is somewhat surprising. The whole conception seems too big for the framework of a composition bearing that title. There is a compelling grandeur, pathos and direct simplicity about this work. The solemn march-like opening leads to a broad, massive tune which is helped towards its climax by thunderous octave passages. To return to a plain restatement of the first theme, after the exaltation and vehemence of the choral, would be out of the question. Chopin allows the agitation to communicate itself to the remainder of the work, the pathetic character of the first theme being entirely transformed by an uncontrolled grief and desperate despair. In the Nocturne in F sharp minor, Op.48 No.2 there is that “Eastern” quality in the long (28 bars) flowing opening theme. The middle section is rather in the style of a polonaise. Chopin told a student to play this as a recitative “a tyrant commands (the first two chords) and the other begs for mercy.”

In the following two nocturnes the second is far superior to the first. The Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1 is often played, by those who should know better, with a languid insipidity not, I hasten to add, by this artist who finds a sober nobility in the opening phrases and maintains considerable dramatic tension throughout the piece. The Nocturne in E flat major, Op.55 No.2 rises to new heights and breaks away from the all too prevalent ternary form. ‘A duet for two solo instruments with basso continuo’ is how it has been described. The piece achieves a level of intensity that hints at Wagner. The middle voice adds an increasingly passionate commentary to the ‘endless melody’ of the upper part, and the supporting accompaniment itself rises above its normal function to join in the song. That Niecks should comment that these last two nocturnes show a falling off is quite incomprehensible. The Nocturne in B Major, Op.62 No.1 is remarkable for the profusion of Chopinesque ornamentation in the final section –the non plus ultra of pianistic filigree work. There are harmonic touches of a kind that show the ailing composer still searching and reaching out to new harmonic twists. The breathtaking return to the opening melody but now expressed entirely in trills together with one of his most impressive codas give the lie to Niecks. The Nocturne in E Major, Op.62 No.2 opens with one of those ‘sweet but sad’ melodies wandering off into harmonic byways. Chopin again introduces an agitated middle section full of contrapuntal interplay before leading into a restatement of the opening theme in a varied form and, after brief pause for reflection, the final coda. Not, though, the final curtain for Chopin’s Nocturnes - as the finest nocturne of them all bears a different name.

Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op.60

This is the climax of Chopin’s lyricism, his final outpouring of melody, a synthesis of his complete piano style and a summary of his achievements as a harmonist. Superficially, thanks to the thirds and sixths, it might appear to be a mere glorification of “Italianism,’ but apart from the fact that Chopin’s inspiration was independent of any naïve Venetian canzone, the work is rich in ‘impressionistic’ effects which transport the listener away from Italy to the poet’s own nameless dream-world.

Arthur Hedley

The noted Chopin authority, musicologist and author originally contributed these programme notes for Joyce Hatto’s performances in 1953 of the complete Nocturnes of Chopin and John Field.