nocturne
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
Etymology: Borrowed from French nocturne (literally “nocturnal”), from Latin nocturnus. Doublet of notturno.
Inflected forms:
form: nocturnes
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A work in a genre of piano music of moderate tempo with a highly-decorated, improvisatory melody.
pos: noun
examples: “My tastes,” he said, still smiling, “incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet.” And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: “I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I’d rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don’t like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;[…].”
For all its grace, charm, and apparent simplicity, [Frédéric] Chopin’s Nocturne in E♭ major, Op. 9, No. 2, poses fundamental problems on close inspection. The fact that so many analyses of the piece – including those of Heinrich Schenker and Felix Salzer – fail to explain certain idiosyncratic aspects, in particular an unusual distribution of structural weight, gives some indication of the Nocturne’s complexities at a profound level.
The vocal nocturne, in other words, turns out to be no easier a genre to define than the piano nocturne. But its ambiguities are nevertheless helpful in making sense of those of the piano nocturne.
And finally it's time, and he's out there, under the spot, in his element. The first piece of the night is Shostakovich. Its first movement is a sedate, haunting, almost melodramatic nocturne, but before too long the concerto changes gear and becomes energetic, discordant, feral.
gloss: A work of art relating or dedicated to the night.
pos: noun
examples: He [James Abbott McNeill Whistler] was then asked for his definition of a Nocturne: “I have perhaps, meant rather to indicate an artistic interest alone in the work, divesting the picture from any outside sort of interest which might have been otherwise attached to it. It is an arrangement of line, form, and colour first, and I make use of any incident of it which shall bring about a symmetrical result. Among my works are some night pieces; and I have chosen the word Nocturne because it generalises and simplifies the whole set of them.”
When John Ruskin, a sort of pope among the art critics of the time, was faced with [James Abbott McNeill] Whistler’s canvases at the opening exhibition of The Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, he was so outraged that he attacked Whistler in a review, charging him with wilful imposture for “flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.” It seems that Ruskin's main target was Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875).
Related words: nocturnist
nocturnal
diurnal
crepuscular
aubade
Derived words: nocturnelike
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: ноктюрно
roman: noktjurno
lang: Carpathian Rusyn
word: нокту́рно
roman: noktúrno
lang: Catalan
word: nocturn
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 夜曲
roman: yèqǔ
lang: Finnish
word: nokturno
lang: French
word: nocturne
lang: Galician
word: nocturno
lang: German
word: Nachtstück
lang: German
word: Nocturne
lang: German
word: Nokturne
lang: Greek
word: νυχτωδία
roman: nychtodía
lang: Ido
word: nokturno
lang: Italian
word: notturno
lang: Japanese
word: 夜想曲
roman: yasōkyoku
lang: Japanese
word: ノクターン
roman: nokutān
lang: Kazakh
word: ноктюрн
roman: noktürn
lang: Korean
word: 녹턴
roman: nokteon
lang: Korean
word: 야상곡
roman: yasanggok
lang: Kyrgyz
word: ноктюрн
roman: noktyurn
lang: Māori
word: whakatangipō
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: nocturne
lang: Polish
word: nokturn
lang: Portuguese
word: noturno
lang: Russian
word: ноктю́рн
roman: noktjúrn
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ноктурно
roman: nokturno
lang: Spanish
word: nocturno
lang: Swedish
word: nocturne
lang: Turkish
word: noktürn