Nocturne No. 20 in C♯ minor, performed by Aaron Dunn.

---

Problems playing this file? Seemedia help.

TheLento con gran espressione (orNocturne No. 20 in C♯ minor, Op. posthumous, orReminiscence), P 1, No. 16,KK IVa/16,WN 37, is a solopiano piece composed byFrédéric Chopin in 1830. It was published posthumously in 1875.

Frédéric Chopin composed the piece shortly after arriving inVienna in 1830. He sent it his older sisterLudwika Chopin with the dedication, "For my sister Ludwika to practise before she takes on mysecond Concerto". Ludwika's catalogued it as a "Lento, of a nocturne character".^[1][2]

TheNovember Uprising in Poland occurred shortly after Chopin arrived in Vienna. The piece is sometimes seen as a reflection of the composer's homesickness and isolation after learning of the revolt. The titleReminiscence orReminiscence Nocturne is associated with this interpretation of the music.^[3] The humor of the work leads some to believe it was written before Chopin learned of the violence back home.^[1]

During his life, Chopin published 18 nocturnes under eight opus numbers.^[4] Chopin biographer Marceli Antoni Szulc came across the manuscript in 1875 and persuadedJarosław Leitgeber to publish it. The score was titledAdagio. Ludwika's taxonomy eventually became the standard, and the piece is classed as a nocturne.^[3] Its most common title derives from the tempo markingLento con gran espressione.^[5]

Mily Balakirev premiered the piece on October 17, 1894, 45 years after Chopin's death. The performance celebrated the unveiling of a monument to the composer in his birthplace,Żelazowa Wola.^[3]

The manuscript is housed at theValldemossa Charterhouse inSpain. It is part of the Anne-Marie Boutroux de Ferrà Collection.^[6][7]

The score is highly autobiographical with several quotations from Chopin's other compositions.^[3] After a quiet introduction, the maintheme starts at bar 5. The left hand slursarpeggios throughout the section.

As Chopin hinted in his dedication, the middle section rehearses fragments from hisPiano Concerto No. 2, which was composed a year earlier. He begins in bars 21 and 22 by quoting the main theme of the concerto's third movement. The melody is originally in³
₄, and Chopin notated it that way in his manuscript, while maintaining the common time in the left hand's accompaniment. He consolidated the time signatures in an 1836 revision.^[3]

In bars 23–4, Chopin articulates the second subject of the piano concerto's first movement. In bar 30, he recalls the music of his song "Życzenie" (A Maiden's wish, 1829). He returns to the piano concerto's third movement and quotes its "village dance" scherzando, a clear evocation of his home country.^[3] The composer's nostalgia dissipates through a broken chord which evokes the conclusion of the piano concerto's second movement.^[9] The Nocturne's original theme returns before the piece concludes with aC♯ major chord.

On September 23, 1939, Polish pianistWładysław Szpilman's performance of Chopin'sNocturne in C-sharp minor onPolskie Radio was interrupted by theGerman invasion ofWarsaw. During the last months ofWorld War II, German army officerWilm Hosenfeld discovered Szpilman hiding in an abandoned house in the destroyed Warsaw ghetto. When Szpilman described himself as a pianist, Hosenfeld asked him to play something on the house's grand piano. Szpilman choseNocturne in C-sharp minor. Hosenfeld protected Szpilman and gave him food to survive.^[10]

At theKraków-Płaszów concentration camp, Nazi commandantAmon Goeth ordered imprisoned pianistNatalia Karp to perform for his birthday. She chose Chopin'sNocturne in C-sharp minor because it was melancholy enough to describe her feelings. She played so well that Goeth spared her life, and that of her sister.^[11][12]

In 2002, Roman Polanski's dramatized the radio station's final live broadcast inThe Pianist, based on Szpilman memoir, but he changed the piece to Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23.

• Recording by Markus Brylka synced with manuscript, viaYouTube.
• Nocturne in C-sharp minor: Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project
• Lento con gran espressione at Piano Library.

• Nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin
• 1830 compositions
• Compositions in C-sharp minor
• Compositions by Frédéric Chopin published posthumously
• Music dedicated to family or friends

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with hAudio microformats
• Works with IMSLP links
• Articles with International Music Score Library Project links