Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. 72 (Chopin)

Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. 72, No. 1, was composed by Frédéric Chopin for solo piano in 1827. It was the 19th nocturne published, when published in 1855. The composition features an unbroken line of quaver triplets in the left hand set against a slow melody of minims, crotches, quaver duplets and triplets. It consists of 57 bars of common time with the tempo given as Andante, 69 bpm.

An informal analysis of the piece is as follows:

• Bar 1: Introduction
• Bar 2-9: Theme A, in E minor.
• 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.
• Bar 31-38: Heavily ornamented variation on A
• Bar 39-46: Variation on theme A, beginning with octaves in the right hand.
• Bar 47-54: Theme B, modulated to E major.
• Bar 55-57: Coda in E major.

External links

• Nocturnes Op. Posth. 72: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• Free sheet music of Nocturne in E minor from Cantorion.org
• Recording at musopen.com (incorrectly labelled as Opus 27 in C# minor)