Noctave
The piece
One melody returns several times in this nocturne, more ornate each time: a right-hand tune, often doubled in sixths or thirds like a duet, above a left hand that rolls out wide broken chords without a break. Between these returns, the music grows restless, climbs to passages marked con forza and then appassionato, and settles again. This version follows the edition revised by Claude Debussy for Durand in 1915.
The left hand never stops: sixteenth notes spread over more than an octave, with nearly 200 leaps. It should remain a fluid backdrop, never percussive; practise it on its own with a loose wrist, joining the bass notes with the pedal. In the right hand, the difficulty is making the top voice sing while the hand plays two notes at once: choose a fingering for the sixths that lets you connect the upper line, even if the lower voice detaches slightly. The fioriture marked leggierissimo ride on the flow of the left hand; feel where the beats fall rather than counting every note. The 54 repeated notes need an even touch with no bumps.