Nocturne Op. 27 No. 1: opening chords and form
C♯ minor101 bars4/4LarghettoLevel 6 of 84-page PDF
Form
A theme, C♯ minorA′ theme with a second voiceB più mossoC A♭ majorD D♭ major, then CT climax and cadenzaA″ theme returnsCoda C♯ major
Bars 1–6 in C♯ minor
Sections
A (1–18): the theme
Over Chopin's bare fifths the theme reaches F♯ minor (iv) through C♯⁷, moves to D major, the Neapolitan ♭II, and returns to C♯ minor with no dominant between.
B (29–48): più mosso
The più mosso moves to 3/4, V⁷ and i alternate and then repeat a fourth higher while Chopin's bass climbs a step per bar, and bars 45–48 cadence in E major.
C and D (49–80): A♭, D♭, C
Bars 49–52 cadence in A♭ major, the dominant G♯ respelled as A♭. D♭ major follows at bar 65. Bar 72 pivots to C major, and bars 73–77 repeat bars 65–69 a half step lower.
T (81–83): the climax
B♯°⁷, vii°⁷ of C♯ minor, holds at fff. Bar 83 reaches V⁷, and a cadenza runs down that dominant into the theme.
Coda (94–101): C♯ major
At bar 94 the tonic takes E♯, its major third, and keeps it, and the last chords are F♯ (IV), then C♯ with F♯ in place of E♯, then C♯ major.
Study edition
Partial analysis: opening bars and a short note on each section. The full breakdown of every section is in the study edition of Nocturne in C♯ minor.
Where it sits among the other twenty is in the nocturnes ranked by difficulty, the method for learning it from these chords is in how to memorize a Chopin nocturne, harmony first, and the left-hand pattern under it is measured in Chopin’s left-hand patterns, ranked by stretch.