Frédéric Chopin
Nocturne 14
in F-sharp Minor, Op. 48 No. 2
Deeply melancholic and almost obsessively repetitive, this Nocturne is quite accessible to the late intermediate student.
Year: 1842
Period: Early Romantic
Piano score: PS Urtext 
Audiovisual Study Tool
"A tyrant commands"...?
The Nocturne in f sharp minor is of a deeply melancholic character. The melodic line wanders languorously through the higher registers, repeating almost obsessively, as if unable to stop dwelling on the sorrow and regret which generates its movements. Below this, the left hand anxiously repeats a pattern of an eighth note triplet followed by a quarter note, its pulsations driving the melody and harmony forward.
The middle section contrasts strongly with the sadness of the outer sections, changing its meter from 4/4 to 3/4 and modulating to D flat major, its main motif consisting of two chords followed by a melodic flourish. Curiously, Chopin said that this section was like a recitativo that should be played as if "a tyrant commands, and the other asks for mercy.”
Compared to the first Nocturne of Op. 48, which has many technical difficulties, this Nocturne is quite accessible to the late intermediate student.
Background
The two Nocturnes Op. 48 were written in 1841 and published in 1842.Members who like this piece have also downloaded:
Nocturne in F-sharp Minor - Op. 48 No. 2 is a piano piece by the early romantic composer Frédéric Chopin who lived between the years 1810 and 1849.
The composition was first published in 1842 and is included in Nocturnes by Chopin.