#Piano nocturn tv

Pay attention to its subtleties and nuances, and notice how it could – but doesn’t – go over the top. Someone online said this (I forget who), but it’s great – Chopin was a master at reaching the fine line separating drama and melodrama. I want you to pay attention to that as we listen through some clips of the song. You could pour out your heart, but it sounds better – and is more interesting – to hold back a little. The tendency with Chopin’s tender music is to really just get into it and pour out your heart, but his music is best performed with an air of quiet reservation. The same song, depending how you play it, can have two completely different effects. It’s like that drunk friend who is trying to explain their feelings, but mainly saying, “I love you so muuuuuuch” a bunch of times. Like that sharp, intellectual world traveler friend who always has useful insight on your life.Īt its worst, this nocturne is sloppy and overly sentimental. It’s crisp, it’s clear, it just gets you. 2 radiates a certain coolness and detachment. The band Muse uses this nocturne as an outro for their song “United States of Eurasia”, with some added strings and sound effects Sound and StyleĪt its best, this nocturne op. A lot of times, this nocturne plays while a character reminisces or has deep thoughts.

#Piano nocturn tv

Pop CultureĬhopin’s nocturne in E flat major has made its way into many movies and TV shows, such as The Five Year Engagement, Bones, Dexter, Mad Men, Hannibal (the series) and the Simpsons. Wilhelm said, “You play it so beautifully…can no one else?” Chopin replied, “Liszt can”. Some people avoid very famous pieces because they are so overplayed, but I actually think that makes them especially worth knowing – obviously there’s something to them, if they’re so popular.Įven though Chopin revolutionized the genre of Nocturnes, he owes a lot to John Field, an Irish composer who wrote nocturnes before him.Ĭhopin regularly taught his own music to students, and one of his students, Wilhelm von Lenz, recalls how Chopin was extremely picky about this piece. Of course, since this piece is so famous, it has also been overplayed and badly performed many times – sort of like Stairway to Heaven if you’re a guitar player, or Fur Elise by Beethoven as another piano example. It isn’t one of Chopin’s extremely difficult pieces either it’s playable at a grade 9 level RCM. 2 is an extremely famous tune, and you’ve probably heard it at one point or other in your life. Chopin was Maria’s piano teacher, and he dedicated many of his works to students.īefore we talk too many other details, I want you to listen to a few moments of this nocturne, so you have a general idea of what we’ll be talking about. 9 nocturnes, a set of 3, to Maria Pleyel, the wife of an acquaintance of Chopin’s.

2, was composed between 1830-1832, when Chopin was around 20 years old.