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Free sheet music · Noctave edition

Nocturne in F-sharp minor, Op. 48 No. 2

Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849

Advanced · 8/101841F-sharp minor7 min 21 sChopin's Nocturnes
Portrait of Frédéric Chopin, in moonlight

Listen

The first 22 seconds, played by the piano of Noctave (the app's SoundFont).

The piece

This nocturne speaks in an undertone, like an inner conversation. The right hand sings a flexible, often ornamented line over a left hand that spells out its chords in triplets. In the middle, the metre changes to three beats and the tempo slows markedly (Molto più lento) for a more inward episode in D-flat major, before the first tempo returns. The piece does not end in the minor but in F-sharp major, after more than seven minutes of music.

The particular challenge here is rhythmic: on 55 beats the two hands divide the pulse differently, most often triplets in the left hand against eighth notes in the right. Learn each hand alone until its rhythm is automatic, then put them together by feeling the shared beat rather than trying to line up the notes in between. A few chords reach well beyond the octave (up to 16 semitones): roll them lightly instead of straining the hand. With three sharps and many accidentals, take time to read the harmonies of the central episode, where the slow tempo exposes every hesitation.

What makes it hard

Cross-rhythms
On 55 beats, the hands divide the beat differently (three against two, four against three).
Stamina
7 min 21 s of music, repeats included, to sustain without losing focus.
Accidentals
30% of the notes carry an accidental outside the key signature: chromatic writing.
Stretches
17 chords wider than an octave in one hand, up to a major tenth.

Measured on the score, repeats included, at the written tempo.

Play it in Noctave

The score, free. The version that falls in light, in Noctave: the notes come down to your keyboard at your tempo, then fade to leave you the score. Noctave is coming soon to Android: leave your address to hear when it is out.

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