One of the great piano composers of the Romantic era is Frederick Chopin. We examined his life and some of his music when we studied Romantic Piano Music. For Musical Analysis Journal #2, we will examine Chopin’s Nocturne, Opus 9, No. 2. Please listen to the piece Chopin Nocturne and describe 5 of the following elements:
Melody–Is the melody smooth (conjunct) or does it have lots of leaps? If you refer to the Powerpoint notes from Romantic Piano Music, you will notice that Chopin likes to use decorations or embellishments in his music. This would be a good spot to refer to these.
Harmony–does the music seem to be in major or minor tonality?
Rhythm–what meter does the piece seems to be in? Does it have a rhythm that is repeated over time in the right or left hand?
Form–What is the structure of the piece? Does it have an A and B section with one section returning?
Texture–Piano is capable of Homophonic (melody with accompaniment), Polyphonic (many independent parts), and monophonic (one musical line). Which texture does this seem to be?
Dynamics–Is this loud or soft? Does it seem to change dynamics at all? Get louder or softer?
Tempo–is this piece fast or slow?
Instrumentation–What instrument do you hear?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E6b3swbnWg
