The Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor, Op. posth., Lento con gran espressione, Op. P 1, No. 16, KKIVa/16, is a solo-piano piece composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830.
Chopin dedicated this work to his older sister, Ludwika Chopin, with the statement: "To my sister Ludwika as an exercise before beginning the study of my second Concerto".[1][2] First published 26 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.[3][4]
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The composition is marked Lento con gran espressione and is written in common time. After a soft, saddening introduction, the main theme starts at bar 5, with the left hand playing broken chords in portamento slurs throughout the section, imparting a haunting and continuous quality to the music. The theme then shifts to a dreamy pianissimo in bar 21, before returning to the original theme in bar 47, and finally concluding with a Picardy third. The themes from the middle section resemble themes from Chopin's second piano concerto in F minor which was composed around the same time (1830).
| Book: Frédéric Chopin | |
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